
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


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THE WIZARD CLIP. 












From a sketch by James R. Taylor. 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































r P ina 

P- /; 


\ 

ft! . J<5S€pk /Vl o 

THE MYSTERY 


OP TITE 

Wizard Clip 

(BM1TIIF1ELD, W. YA.) 


A MONOGRAPH. 


VOLTAGE NE PEREAXT. 



KELLY, PIET AND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 

[JOHU J3. 

’ No. 174 West Baltimore Street. 

1879. 




T3X/+I8 

, ScsFf 

eopy'g 








Copteight, JOHN B. PIET, 1879. 






Sanctus Orientius—ne ilium popularis inflaret aura, secreta 
petit, ad Bigorram Yasconiae regionem, .... spiritu Dei 
SUB SPECIE VISIBILIS MANUS 
eum dirigente, ubi in deserto montis latere oratorium construxit. 


Saint Oriens— not to be puffed tip by popular favor , went in 
quest of a secluded spot , towards La Bigoi're , a region of the Gas¬ 
cons , being led by the Spirit of God, under the appearance of 
A HAND, and there in the wild crag of a mountain he built 
himself a chapel. 


( Martyrol. Rom. Bar. emendatum in Surii vitiB 
SS. ed Taur. Marietti Mail 1.) 


f 




The Mystery of Cliptown, West Virginia. 


No Preface seems needed to a compilation of docu¬ 
ments which are laid before the people without a 
determined intent to force a conclusion upon the mind 
of the reader. 

My aim has been, simply, to gather information about 
events which occurred more than three-quarters of a 
century ago— ne pereant from the memory of the third 
and following generations. 

I give no explicit opinion on the subject, albeit the 
individual sentiments of the writer may easily be 
inferred. 

Should any of my readers be in possession of facts, 
records, cuttings from old papers, old traditions, remin¬ 
iscences, etc., that may add to, improve, or correct these 
statements, the publishers will receive them thankfully, 
and duly acknowledge them. 

Indeed, it is the opinion of one, facile princeps among 
out* Catholic historians, that there was certainly a 
“ Wizard Clip pamphlet,’’ yet Iona pace dixerim, I fear 
he is misled by the existence of the Georgetown account, 
which we place in capitei But he was not mistaken 



VI11 


INTRODUCTORY. 


when he suggested that there must have been accounts 
of the manifestations in contemporaneous papers, and 
especially in those of a religious character—non- 
Catholic, of course, for we had no literature conducted 
by Catholics then, Matthew Carey having suspended 
his Museum, and Robert Walsh not yet started his 
Review. 

And now, dear reader, be indulgent to 


GLEANER 


To JoHisr Gilmary Shea, LL. D. 

My dear Sir , 

Allow me to inscribe these pages to you. 

I wish so to do, as an expression of my esteem, an 
acknowledgment of my gratitude, and a token of my 
affection. 

I owe you much. Your letters of encouragement in 
my pursuits, of information in my queries, and teeming 
with expressions of friendship noble and true, are the 
most honored and cherished treasures among my private 
records. 

Even in this work, insignificant as its performance 
may appear, you have given me considerable assistance. 
Had I adopted your suggestions whilst I was enjoying 
yours and your dear family’s true home-greeting and 
hospitality, I would have rendered it more complete. 
You suggested searching the periodicals contempora¬ 
neous with the manifestations of Middleway. With the 
single exception of my addressing, through a friend, the 
man “who had a library” in that neighborhood, who 
however had never heard of the “ Clip,” I have not acted 
on that suggestion. For this I may be forgiven on the 


X 


DEDICATION. 


plea 3 that since that time, I have scarcely had a lasting 
city , the libraries in that neighborhood fell a prey to 
the internecine war and bloody strife that desolated 
W. Virginia, and lastly I knew not to whom to turn as 
being able to give me satisfactory answers. The only 
literary correspondent I had, a friend of the lamented 
B. U. Campbell, had been gathered to his fathers. 

However, let us hope that new documents will now 
be unearthed.—My energetic and discriminating pub¬ 
lishers will take pains to disseminate the monograph 
over the land relieve the Voice spake. It is not pre¬ 
sumable that appreciative minds and vigorous hands 
would take up the book, and with a knowledge of how 
earnestly the writer courts information, would yet allow 
the request to fall unheeded, and refuse the aid it might 
be in their power to give. This negligence would be at 
great variance with the uniform courtesy with which 
persons of all conditions have always answered my 
queries—an uninterrupted experience of well nigh a 
quarter of a century. 

Yet, methinks I hear thee say:—“Why not wait, 
then?” 

“Why? for many reasons.” 

But to give one for all—until when, lately, at the 
simple mention of my wish to see this bantling of mine 
strut before my eyes ere Death closed them, the pub¬ 
lishers, well knowing the situation, agreed in favorable 


DEDICATION. 


XI 


and kindly terms to usher the poor thing upon the 
great and noisy American arena,—all my previous and 
many efforts to obtain the light of the press had failed. 
Surely I shall not let this opportunity pass; and confident 
that another edition, or some “Appendix ” will be called 
for, let the book go forward under the prestige of thy 
name, my dear and highly esteemed friend! 

I am sure that when people will know or will hear 
the remark made that a queer little hook telling of 
spirits and goblins, in which Catholics and Catholic 
priests take a prominent part, has been published by a 
friend of John Gilmary Shea and under the prestige of 
his name, sub tanti nominis umbra , they will feel at once 
kindly disposed to it. Hence, I say 

7, puer, atque meo citius hcec subscribe libello. 

Thus, wishing you every happiness, and the choicest 
benedictions of heaven on your estimable and dear family, 
whose remembrance awakens in my soul home feelings, 
I remain as of old, 

Tibi calamo et stylo notus.* 
-May 1st, 1878. 


* The author, Rev. Joseph M. Finotti, died at Central City, Colorado, 
January 11,1819. See notices of him iu the close of the hook. 








A. 

LIVINGSTON'S CONVEESION. 


HISTORY OF ADAM LIVINGSTON—MIDDLE WAY—SINCE 
CALLED U CLIP”—JEFFERSON COUNTY-VIRGINIA. M 

E was born in Pennsylvania, of dutch 
descent and a Lutheran by profession. He 
removed from Pennsylvania in or about 
the year 1770, having in family 3 Sons and 



4 Daughters. 


A short time after his settling in Vir¬ 


ginia, he was much disturbed by an unknown person 

1) The following is a faithful Transcript verbatim punctnatim 
literatim from the original copy, a well-tumbled old MS., 12mo., 
preserved in the library of my dear Alma Mater , Georgetown 
College, on the Potomac. It was kindly sent to me by the 
lamented Dulcissimus Pater , John Early, S. J., then President 
of that Institution, during the War of the Confederacy. In 
those days, being the victim of a long convalescence, I beguiled 
the weary hours of confinement to an invalid’s chair by collect¬ 
ing what forms the subject of these Reminiscences. Father Early 
acceded to my request through the kind offices of a very dear 
friend, the Rev. J. S. Sumner, Librarian and Historiographer of 
the College. This much to prove the authenticity of the Docu¬ 
ment. 1 








2 


WIZARD CLIP. 


that haunted his house—His property was destroyed, 
his barn was burnt, his cattle all died, his clothes 
were cut all to pieces, his beds burnt or cut: chumps 
of fire were thrust into the beds—The plates and all 
the crockery ware were thrown upon the floor : and 
what was astonishing, every thing that was cut, was 
cut in such a manner that they could not get even a 
small patch that could be of any service (the things 
being cut in form of a half moon) boots, saddles, &c. 
were cut in pieces. Three men came from Winches¬ 
ter in order to free the house from what troubled it, 
if it were the Devil himself; but as soon as they 
entered the house, a large stone was seen to proceed 
from the fire place and whirl around upon the floor 
upward of 15 minutes without any stone being 
missed; upon which the Gentlemen instantly sneaked 
away. He applied to 3 conjurers who gave some 
_ herbs and a book, and a riddle to catch the Devil; 
but the first night the book and herbs were put into 
the chamber-pot and covered with the riddle. The 
book was a Church of England prayer book. After 
some time he had a dream in which lie thought he 
climed a high hill but with much difficulty, at the 
top of which was a beautiful church and in it a 
Catholic Priest dressed in Sacerdotal robes, and some 
one told him, this is the man who will relieve you. 
After this (his troubles still continuing) his wife per- 


WIZAKD CLIP. 


3 


suaded him to send for a Catholic Priest, which he 
did, but the Priest appeared unwilling to come: 
However, after much persuasion, he went, blessed 
some water, and sprinkled it about the house ; after 
which the noise and trouble ceased. Some time after, 

l 

being at Shepherd’s town at a Catholic Church (1) , and 
seeing the Priest, he burst into tears and said, this 
is the man whom I saw in my dream and who was 
to relieve me. 

He was then converted to the Catholic faith, and 
after he had heard Mass 2 or 3 times he saw a light 
and heard a Voice frequently, which instructed him 
in the Sacraments of penance and Holy Eucharist. 
The Voice ordered him and his family to keep a 40 
days fast and 3 hours prayer everyday, and 3 of 

i) No Catholic Church in Shepherdstown then, nor is there 
mention of any in the latest Catholic Directories. In 1849 or 
’50 I baptized a young lady from that place, and I well remember 
there was no Catholic Church there then. The words “at a 
Catholic Church ” mean “ at a meeting of Catholics assembled 
in some private house, where the priest gave church , the usual 
expression in those latitudes, to announce the coming of a priest 
to hear Confessions, to otfer the Holy Sacrifice, administer Com¬ 
munion, baptize, marry, &c., at any place, the most often in 
private houses, and by appointment*’’ 

With these remarks in his mind the reader will know how to 
take the item given by Dr. Clarke in his Lives of Deceased Pre¬ 
lates, vol. I., p. 269. 



4 


WIZARD CLIP. 


these they were not to eat or drink any thing, which 
was rigorously observed by all. The Voice also com¬ 
manded them to keep the 4th of March annually as 
a holy day of obligation in thanksgiving for their 
conversion, which was always observed. The voice 
frequently said the beads with them, and w T hen it 
came to the latter part of the hail Mary, it said (on 
account of the wife, as is supposed, who was a little 
stubborn as she was a Presbyterian) Holy, Holy, 
Holy Mary Mother of God, &c. and would explain 
what a blessing it was to have the B. Mother of God 
for our Advocate. The voice likewise instructed 
them in every part of the Catholic religion, and that 
thoroughly as appeared by their conversation. It is 
also certain that no human person instructed them 
and they had no books in the house and had besides 
““"very little education in the englisli tongue. The 
voice told them that all the sighs and tears of the 
whole "World put together were not worth so much 
as one Mass in which a pure God was offered up to 
God. 14 persons were converted in one winter on 
this occasion and several children baptized who in all 
probability never would have been, had not this taken 
place; among the rest a certain Mrs. McGinny G>, 

1) From the different testimonies which we quote, the reader 
will agree with us in the belief that this Mrs. McGinny is none 
else but the wife of Mr. Minghini, of whom more anon. 



WIZARD CLII*. 


5 


which was thus:—After being sick some time, she 
sent for a Presbyterian Minister but received no 
comfort from him; on the contrary, she remained 
more confused than ever, after which she was visited 
by Mrs. McSherry who desired her to pray and 
repeated together with her an act of contrition 
which made some impression upon her. The night 
Mrs. McSherry returned home, she began to think 
whether she ought or could assist her by her prayers, 
she composed herself to sleep, & in her sleep she 
thought she saw an infant strike a large rock about 
the size of a house and grind it into dust. The next 
day, Livingston (being admonished the preceding 
night by the Voice) without knowing anything of 
the dream, sent his daughter to Mrs. McSherry with 
the interpretation of the Dream, and told her that 
the Infant represented the Priest and the rock the 
sins of the woman which would be forgiven her. 
The voice likewise admonished him to advise Mrs. 
McSherry to go to Mr. McGinny and persuade him 
to send for a Priest, that he would have many objec¬ 
tions, but that she should still press him to send for 
a Priest; at length he would say he had no person 
to send: then she was to tell him that the son of 
Livingston would go—all which took place as was 
foretold—The Priest was sent for, came and 


1 * 


6 


WIZARD CLIP. 


administered the Sacraments to the woman. Mrs. 
^ McSherry had interior troubles and never com¬ 
municated them to any one. The voice spoke to 
Livingston and told him to tell her she must suffer 
it with patience, for Almighty God had placed her 
where she was. The Yoice frequently engaged them 
to pray for the suffering souls, who when delivered 
would intercede for them at the throne of God, and 
among the rest to say 5 Paters and Aves and the 
Credo for Mrs. McGinny who w'as in purgatory, 
which the Yoice repeated together with them. One 
of the Daughters being converted, made her confes¬ 
sion and left out some sin through shame—the voice 
then told the whole family that she had left out some 
sin, and told her what it was and advised her to con¬ 
fess it. The voice frequently advised them to pray 
^ for perseverance, and that there was but one Church 
out of which there was no salvation. Livingston, 
before his conversion, bore his losses very impa¬ 
tiently, but after his conversion, he never com¬ 
plained. The voice would come frequently in the 
night and make them pray for 3 hours at a time, 
and would never permit them to rise until it would 
say Deo gratias. It came once & besought them 
to pray for the poor souls, and in order to show him 
how much they suffered, it laid it’s hand upon a waist- 


WIZARD CLIP. 


7 


coat & towel, and the palm of it’s hand burnt clear 
thro’ as did the fingers, as could be seen by the stripes 
of cloth which were left between them. The Voice 
recommended to them hospitality, cautioned them 
against the vanities of the world, & never to follow 
worldly fashions. An Angel came in human shape 
and staid with them 3 days and nights, and instructed 
them in all points of Religion. They asked whence 
he came ? He said, from my father—Whither do 
you go ? to my father—and I come to teach you the 
way to my father. Tie had a long beard, and they 
asked him to shave—he replied yes; it is not dis¬ 
pleasing to Almighty God to be cleanly—He was 
likewise bare-footed, & being asked if he were not 
cold, he answered, there is neither heat nor cold in 
my country—but received a pair of shoes that were 
given him. The voice told them to persevere, & if 
they could not see the person who spoke to them, 
still they should obey the visible voice which was the 
Priest. Mrs. McSherry had a brother at Geo. Town 
College whom his parents sent thither in expectation 
that he would become a Priest—The voice told Liv¬ 
ingston that Mrs. McSherry’s Brother (whom he had 
never seen) instead of being a Priest, would become 
a Blasphemer, but that Mrs. McSherry and his other 
Sisters & Brothers should beg him to reflect and 


8 


WIZARD CLIP. 


believe. That lie, the Brother, doubted the real 
presence, and the voice said that Mrs. McSherry and 
her Sisters should fall upon their knees and tell him 
that Almighty God was as able to give us himself as 
he is to give us a cup of cold water. The voice also 
spoke to a Mr. Goreman 3 times in one week—It 
told Livingston that every prayer he said for the 
suffering souls was as a fresh plaster upon a bad 
wound. During the time that the voice remained at 
Livingston’s, a woman, the wife of a Catholic took 
sick at Winchester and sent for a Priest (the Priest 
before this, had frequently spoken to her, but she 
remained obstinate.) The messenger came to Mrs. 
McSherry’s where the Priest was—They immediately 
went to get the Priest’s horse, but could not find him, 
tho’ he was in an Enclosure containing about an Acre. 
After some time they prepared another horse for him ; 
and immediately they saw the Priest’s horse in the 
small Enclosure. lie went but the woman was dead 
before he arrived. About 30 persons were present 
when they sought for the horse. The voice after¬ 
wards said, that Almighty God permitted this as a 
warning to the living not to depend upon a death¬ 
bed repentance—The Voice said the Brother of Mrs. 
McSherry would never succeed well, which was ver¬ 
ified as he died in great poverty. Every thing that 


WIZARD CLIP. 


9 


the Voice predicted, happened accordingly. It fore¬ 
told that the wife of Goreinan died in Ireland, but 
on account of the troubles she suffered in this world, 
went directly to Heaven. A Mr. Failin a Priest (1) , 
said he wrote to Ireland concerning this fact, and 
said that she was not dead—but the Voice before he 
received his letter admonished Livingston not to 
stagger in his faith,—that the letter was forged. 

The Voice came to Livingston in the night and 
made him pray 3 hours for Father Pellins ( * 2) whom 
he had promised to pray for whilst at his confession 
—'but after the death of Father Pellins, Livingston 
neglected to pray for him—The Voice said that he 
was in great misery. The voice spoke to Mrs. Mc- 
Sherry, which happened thus. One day when all 
the family was at Church, she remained at home 
with the child that was sick—After the family had 
been gone for some time, she went up stairs to say 
some prayers, and whilst she was praying she saw a 


D Most probably Eev. Mr. Phelan. 

2) Eev. James Pellentz, S. J. (?) V. Campbell’s Life and 
Times.of Archbishop Carroll, in U. S. Catholic Magazine , Balti¬ 
more j also De Courcy & Shea’s Catholic Church in the U. S., p. 
214. Fr. P. in 1791 filled the post of Vicar General to Bishop 
Carroll. He was born Jan. 19, 1727, in Germany : died at Cone- 
wago, Feb. 13, 1800. 



10 


WIZARD CLIP. 


beautiful person standing before her in a light cloud 
with one hand up and the other down, and a nail 
running thro’ each hand, wtro" said to her, whatsoever 
you do for one of my litt]6 ones, you do it for me. 
Some time after the Priest came to her house, but 
she said nothing to him of what she had seen. He 
then went to Livingston’s and they told him what 
Mrs. McSherry had seen, tlio’ she had never told 
any one. 

Livingston saw sometimes an arm, but never could 
catch it, tho’ he tried. "Whenever it came it always 
said, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost and made them make the sign of 
the cross. They frequently prayed 3 hours which 
v did not appear more than a few moments. When it 
said, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost, it would say 3 great names, none 
greater on earth, none greater in Heaven. The 
voice told him that it was once in flesh as he was, 
& if he persevered he would know who it was before 
his death. It sung 3 times, and very beautifully in 
Latin and English. It said the souls in purgatory were 
Y much rejoiced on the day of all souls, on which, 
it said, the whole world was praying for them—It 
was on this day that he heard the voice singing 
^ twice, & the third time was the fourth of March the 
end of the 40 days fast. 


WIZARD CLIP. 


11 


The wife of Livingston was never sincerely con¬ 
verted—She used to say she was the Judas—She 
endeavoured to falsify everything the voice said, tho’ 
she heard it more frequently than the rest—It told 
her that she should die in her own house, and in 
order to falsify it when she took sick, she at first 
would not go home (for she had been so much repri¬ 
manded by the voice, that she left her house some 
time before she took sick;) but at last was forced to 
. beg to be taken home, and thus fulfilled the predic¬ 
tion, by dying in her own house. While Mrs. Liv¬ 
ingston was from her own house, she lived at the 
house of a Quaker who had a Daughter that was 
sick, and during her sickness she told Mrs. Living¬ 
ston that she w T anted some spiritual assistance, but 
did not know what it w T as. Mrs. Livingston knew T 
very well what it w T as, for the voice had told her 
it was baptism, but the parents of the girl, being 
opposed to it, she died without Baptism—The voice 
then told Mrs. Livingston that this would appear 
against her in the day of Judgment.—Two shirts (on 
different days) whilst all the family was out of the 
house, w 7 ere spread upon the bed, and upon the breast 
I. II. S. marked in a deep red colour. The voice 
continued to speak about 17 years. Mr. McSherry 
having had some little difference with the Priest, did 




12 WIZARD CLIP. 

not go to communion for 3 years, at the latter end 
of which, he took sick, and was at the point of death. 
The voice then told Livingston to tell Mr. McSherry 
to touch Christ thro’ the Church, and he should be 
restored to his family ; which happened accordingly ; 
for having received II. Communion, the next day he 
was able to walk about, and in a few days perfectly 
recovered. When Mrs. M’Ginny was sick, the voice 
said the Messenger would meet both the Priests Mr. 
Cahal and Mr. Smith, but that Mr. Smith was the 
one intended for the woman, as being of a milder 
nature. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Doctor Carroll [was] very much surprised at the 
knowledge, of the man, and thought he received his 
instructions from above. 

Rev. Mr. Smith also of the same opinion. 

Rev. Mr. Brosius likewise thought that it was 
something curious and deserved notice. (1) 

Rev. F. Palentz. W 


I) Dr. Brosius came to America with the then prince D. Gal- 
litzin. For some items of his life and a notice of his works, V. 
Finotti’s Bibliographia Catholica Americana, ad n. For a time 
he had charge of the Catholics in Lancaster, Pa. His name 
appears in the Register of Baptisms, Boston Cathedral, 1816. 

(2 Pellentz, v. supra. 




WIZARD CLIP. 


13 


Bev. Mr. Cahal, since returned to Ireland. (1) 2 

P. S. Livingston, as a mark of gratitude to Al- 
mighty God for his conversion, gave a lot of ground 
(2) for the benefit of the church. One Son and one 
Daughter of Livingston died in the reputation of 
Sanctity. finis. 


To the same obliging Fathers of Georgetown Col 
lege I owe the privilege of transferring to these 
pages a continuation by another hand of the Narra¬ 
tive just given, which, with the following, forms the 
first and most authentic document of the series. 

It is from the pen of Brother Jos&pli P. Mobberly, 
who wrote A. D., 1825. I omit the former part of 
his Account, for naught is therein recorded but what 
we have learned above. 

The Bev. Joseph Keller, lately Superior of the 
Company of Jesus, in the Province of Maryland, 

1) Of Rev. Mr. Cahill I find no record. Oliver has not his 
name, nor is any mention thereof made in the Archives of the 
Province of Md. S. J., or in Field’s Directory for 1817, or much 
less in Creagh’s for 1822. Take this in connection with the 
Narrative’s statement that the Kev. Mr. Cahill did return to 
Ireland, before the year 1825, and by collating the several facts 
& items it may not be very far from the truth to assert that he 
returned, previous to 1800. 

2) Y. infra, Letter of Rev. Dr. Kain. B. viii. 

2 




ii 


WIZARD CLIP. 


has kindly furnished me the following items concern¬ 
ing the Life of Mobberly, drawn from the archives 
of the Order: 

Bro. Joseph Mobberly was born in Montgomery 
County, Md., January 12, 1779. He received a fair 
amount of education, and seems to have been in¬ 
tended for the Priesthood; yet, he entered the Com¬ 
pany of Jesus in the lowly grade of lay-brother, or 
Brother Coadjutor , to be employed in manual, ser¬ 
vices, or, perchance, in teaching secular studies. He 
was admitted on December, sixth, 1809, by the Very 
Rev. Robert Molyneux, Superior of the Jesuits, in 
the United States, for many years, during the Sup¬ 
pression in Europe. The Jesuits, very few in num¬ 
ber, constituted, almost to one, the Catholic clergy 
in the United States, at that time. It is a well- 
known fact that with an express sanction of the 
Holy See, the Jesuits never ceased to exist, as a 
body, even after the famous Brief of suppression. 
In Russia, under Catherine H, they lived in peace 
under the Superiorship of Yery Rev. Frs. Francis X. 
Kareau and Gabriel Gruber. In September 1805, 
Fr. Thaddeus Brzozowski was elected General of the 
Company in Russia and The Two Sicilies, where, as 
in the Duchy of Parma, the Banner of St. Ignatius, 
says Fr. Knight, was unfurled by the Yen. Jos. Pig- 


WIZARD CLIP. 


15 


natelli, under whose guidance the Spanish Jesuits 
were led exiles into Italy, after having been so ruth¬ 
lessly and mysteriously ostracised by the Bourbon 
Charles III (Ap. 2, 1767). Under such sanctions 
never revoked, the Fathers of Maryland were enabled 
to resume a Corporate existence & live in common. 
—From the admirable sketches on the hist’y of George¬ 
town College; College Journal , Oct. & FTov. 1877. 

Bro. M,” writes Fr. Keller, “ was much employed, 
as a teacher, in Georgetown College, he was a good 
writer, and was the author of several esteemed books, 
lie took his last vows, as Coadjutor Temporal, Feb¬ 
ruary 2, 1821. He died in Georgetown, in the Col¬ 
lege, September 30, 1827. He had been at St. Ini- 
goes, St. Mary’s Co., Md., in charge of the farm. 
At G. T. College, he taught English, Latin and 
Greek, and was employed as a book-keeper.” In 
this office he probably succeeded the late venerable 
Fr. John McElroy. (1) 

As to Bro. Mobberly being an author, I applied 

D A very interesting incident, which might be called the 
turning point, in the life of this saintly priest, I heard from the 
lips of Father Grassi, in Eome. F. Grassi was Superior of the 
Jesuits in Maryland. He was struck with the conversational 
powers of Brother John, who then was simply a Coadjutor Tem¬ 
poral. One day at recreation time, he told him to stand up, on 
the porch of the old building, and deliver a sermon, ex tem ., on 
a certain subject. The result was a command to study for the 



WIZARD CLIP. 


16 

for information 1 to the Rev. J. S. Sumner, whilst 
engaged in compiling the Bibliographia Catholica 
Americana. It would have been an item of great 
interest, to add to the list of our earliest American 
Authors (1774-1820) this one Jesuit Lay Brother, a 
Jesuit prelate, the great Archbishop Carroll, being 
the first on the list. Fr. Sumner (G. T. College, 
April 1, 1872) replied : “ No one here is aware of 
his compiling anything except the MSS. containing 
the account of W. Clip, and another giving a De¬ 
scription of the doings of the British [in quest of 
Beauty cfi Booty] on the Potomac during the last 
"War with Great Britain, at which time Bro. M. 
was at St. Inigoes.” 

.... The good Brother after giving a resume 
of facts connected with the doings at Wizard Clip, 
related above, continues : 

“ The above narrative was made out, about the 
year 1817 by the Rev. Mr. Mulledy * * * (1) at the request 

priesthood. I have no recollection of having seen this circum¬ 

stance ever mentioned in Keininiscences or Biographies of Fr. 

MacElroy. It is too interesting to allow it to go into oblivion. 

I) Reverend Thomas Mulledy’s is a household name with the 
Catholics of the Northern and Middle States, besides the high 
repute for learning and comely ways he enjoyed with our States¬ 
men at the National Capital. Three times he honored the Mitre 
by refusing it—once that of the Metropolitan of New York. 
Pending" the correspondence between the American Prelates and 



WIZARD CLIP. 


17 


of Rev. A. Kohlman. W They both went up to the 

the Court of Rome, “Rather Tom,” was hidden in farmer’s dis¬ 
guise in the mountains of Western Virginia. 

Born in Virginia A. D. 1794, he was enrolled among the sol¬ 
diers of the Cross, in the Company of Jesus, February 5th, 1815, 
and died in 1860, July 20. Educated at the Gregorian Univer¬ 
sity in Rome he bore the palms of highest success in both philo¬ 
sophical and theological arenas. In this country he filled the 
highest posts of honor among his Sodales. 

1) Anthony Kohlman’s is a name than which none has been 
more honored in his native Germany, in Rome, or in the United 
States. It was he who in company with the benemerit Ben. 
Joseph Fenwick, of Boston, endeavored to bring peace and com¬ 
fort to the death bed of Thomas Paine. But when the dying 
skeptic found that the two messengers of Peace could bring no 
relief to the body, he spurned them. 

Father Kohlman’s Disquisitions (Washington, 1821) on Uni- 
tarianism are to this day studied with appreciative eagerness, 
even by those whose tenets he with great urbanity impugned. 
The bold firmness with which he upheld the sacred trust of the 
Confessional before the New York Courts in 1813 has identified 
his name with the “Catholic Question in the United States.” 
Leo XII held him in great esteem, called him from America to 
fill an important chair in the Gregorian University, and had his 
own choice Library placed at the Professor’s disposal. He con* 
tinued deep in the confidence of Pius VIII and Gregory XVI. 
My experience of men of all colors and hues, high and low, 
especially within the pale of Mother Church, has been pretty 
wide, and honestly do I say that a more lovely, comatable, faith* 
inspiring, cheery man I have never met. 



18 


WIZARD CLIP. 


Sulphur Springs (I think in August), and visited 
Mrs. Me Sherry, who related it to them as above. 

“When I was a boy of 10 or 12 years of age 
[about 1791] I remember to have heard much talk 
of the Wizard's Clip, a name given to the place by 
the Vulgar. A Mr. Francis McAtee, a very wealthy 
and intelligent Catholic, told me that he had never 
given credit to the wonderful tales of spirit haunt¬ 
ing people, but that the affair of the Wizard’s 
Clip, was then of such notoriety, & was related by 
so many and such respectable men both Catholics 
and Protestants, that he could not ref use to believe it. 
I then lived about 30 miles from the place. He 
spoke in the highest terms of the great zeal & 
indefatigable labors of the Iiev. Mr. Cahil, an Irish 
Priest, who was then on the mission, and who had 
visited Livingston, & freed him from his misfortunes. 
It is said that Livingston went down to Baltimore 
to see Bp. Carroll, who, after a strict examination, 

It is but meet that we should give our readers such traits in 
the lives of those, whose testimony we may be obliged to quote 
so as to give the means wherewith to weigh their authority. 
For, if those, on whose testimony we must needs rely for a well- 
balanced opinion on the subject of this Monograph, are persons 
of correct judgment, men and women of level mind, we are 
more fairly disposed to receive the information in their power 
to afford. 




WIZARD CLIP. 


19 


observed that he thought the man iiad received his 

KNOWLEDGE FROM ABOVE. 

“ When I was at Conewago in 1813, I saw some 
clothes that had been deposited there by Mr. Living¬ 
ston, or one of his sons. They were cut in several 
places. I think I saw 1 HS on one of the pieces. 
The Rev. Mr. de Barth told me, that there had been 
a shirt or towel there, which had the print of a 
man’s hand burnt on it, but it was then lost or mis¬ 
placed. (1) I asked him if it appeared to be burnt. 
He said, it appeared to him, as if some one had 
rubbed his hand on the bottom of an iron pot, & 

l) V. B. No. YI, Rev. Mr. Ender’s letter, and 16. It was a 
wanton act to destroy those Records of history, tokens of one of 
the most wonderful manifestations of God’s Benevolence during 
the struggles of the primitive Church in these United States. 
But my long studies in our earliest histories, and earnest en¬ 
deavors to preserve ancient records, which would he so useful to 
the historian, have led me to the double painful conclusion, well 
established on facts, that our ecclesiastical Sires not only took no 
pains to preserve what should have been treasured for the former 
glory of this Infant Church, but even went so far as to destroy 
what was left of its records. This can be explained only b} 7 the 
fact of deficient training, or, to put an amiable construction on 
the vandalic behavior, that the good old priests cared only to 
have their deeds recorded in heaven. For interesting notices of 
Kev. L. de Barth v. The Catholic Church in the U. S'., by De 
Courcy & Shea, ch. xv., p. 224. 



20 


WIZARD CLIP. 


then pressed his open hand upon the.cloth, having 
the entire appearance of a man’s hand. 

“ When I went to New York in 1812, I was 
directed to call on Fr. Grassi 0) on my way thither, 
who was then at the Sulphur Springs in Virginia, in 
the neighborhood of Smithfield, or Wizard’s Clip. 
Mr. McGinny (' 1 2) who then kept the Springs, acci¬ 
dentally mentioned Livingston to us in the course of 
conversation, & observed that Livingston’s history 
was a very strange & curious one, & that, though 
he never before had given credit to any thing of the 
sort, yet he knew not how to disbelieve the Glijp Ills- 

1) Y. Rev. John Grassi’s Notizie Varie sullo Stato presente 

della Republica degli Stati Uniti. . . . Roma, 1818—Milan, 

1819—and Turin, 1822. Fr. Grassi, S. J., came to the U. S. in 
18*10, accompanied by Fr. Grivel. When they were on the eve 
of starting for Russia, sudden orders from their General changed 
their destination. He succeeded Fr. Molineux in the Superior- 
ship of the Province, I believe, lie returned to Europe in 1817, 
after the Re-pristination of the Company of Jesus, eventually 
he became Rector of Propaganda College, and died Assistant of 
the Roman Province. He was endowed with extraordinary 
qualities of heart and mind. It was said of him that “Nature 
had made him and then broke the mold." In his Notices be 
records his visit to the Springs, and, if my memory is correct, 
the manifestations of the clip, also; yet I am not sure. C^o) 

2) Surely the Signor Minghini, mentioned several times in 
the Letters of our fair correspondent. B* No. xiii. 



WIZARD CLII\ 


21 


tory. He further observed, that Livingston went to 
him one day in the depth of his distress & begged 
him to apply to a Priest for his relief.—Mr. McGinny 
laughed at him, & told him it was some malicious 
person that disturbed the peace of his family, &c.— 
At this Livingston burst into tears. He afterwards 
applied to Mrs. McSherry to speak to the Priest.for 
him, as she did.—Mr. McGinny said that he went to 
Livingston’s house and saw the cloth which was cut, 
& that it was a curious circumstance, that whatever 
he saw cut, was cut as exactly with the thread, as if 
a tailor had done it. He appeared to be perfectly 
convinced of the truth of this strange history. He 
said he picked up several pieces from the floor, where 
it had fallen. The cutting was not going on when 
he arrived at the house,—it had ceased some time 
before. 

“ The question naturally arises:—why did not 
Bishop Carroll institute an enquiry in this matter? 
The answer is not difficult. Dr. Carroll, at that 
time, was the only Bishop in the United States of 
America ; he consequently must have been seriously 
engaged in weighty matters of the church. He had 

but few clergymen to assist him.He was 

by no means wealthy; for it is said that some years 
before he died, his means were so scanty, that the 


22 


WIZARD CLIP. 


postage of liis letters took all the money lie could 
advance. The minds of Protestants were then 
soured against Catholics, and he seemed to have 
it in view to soften down the asperity of religious 
acrimony, & to unite a11 in the bonds of charity. 
He was therefore zealous to avoid every thing that 
might serve to call up old recollections, or which 
might afford a handle to Protestants. His conduct 
then is not to be wondered at.” 




B. 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE GATHERER AND COMPILER 
OF THESE DOCUMENTS. 

CCORDIisG to the plan I have traced, I 
shall now subjoin such letters and notes as 
I have been able to gather. It is not my 
purpose to write a history. Were I of that 
mood or pretension, nothing easier, in my humble opin¬ 
ion, than to weave out of this web a wonderful tale of 
real life, of the very Simonjpurest sensational kind. 

I only wish to summon before my readers all the 
witnesses I could subpoena. The warrants were only 
from a friend to friends, and in some cases simply 
from a gentleman to gentlemen—if the reader will 
allow me the claim to gentlemanshij). 

I may simply note here, that seeing the condition 
and position in society and moral independence of 
my witnesses, it must be a very hard squeeze , to use 
the expression of a gentleman of color on the sub¬ 
ject, to withold one’s assent. . . . 

Surely I have the whole army of Spiritists at my 
back. But to be candid I care naught for their sup- 






24 


WIZARD CLIP. 


port. For, altlio’ I readily admit that there may be 
truth in Spiritualism, I can (and the reader will 
agree with me) appeal to the very best of historical 
authority for facts parallel in their nature and devel¬ 
opment to those averred in Cliptown, without being 
under any obligation to modern Spiritism, which is 
not of God. 

One suggestion occurs to my mind, which I con¬ 
sider operae pretium to lay before the readers. Here 
it is: 

The Master has given us an unerring rule, by 
which to form a correct opinion of persons. 

BY THEIR FRUITS YOU SHALL KNOW THEM. 

Matthew vii 16. 

Well, then, to say nothing of the results, which 
the participation in, or the direct and prompt assent 
to the Manifestations of Cliptown, bore in the lives 
of the immediate sufferers —their humility, straight¬ 
forwardness, and sincere application to draw from 
them the conclusions that most directly affected the 
conduct of their lives—what are we to say of, or 
what conclusions draw from such who were not 
participants , but gave their opinions, free and un¬ 
tram elled, when called upon ? 

The victims , as some will call them, of these Man¬ 
ifestations, or to use the proper word—the objects 


WIZARD CLIP. 


25 


of a merciful Dispensation, had (like the Magi of 
olden times) to meet the ridicule of their peers, and 
endure hardships and humiliations, such as very 
seldom fall to the lot of man. But Livingston and 
his family, once knowing that “ the finger of God 
was there ” submitted to all with meekness, asked, 
like Saul on the road to Damascus, what the Lord 
wished them to do, and once that Will made known, 
they entered upon the new path, rejoicing even as a 
giant to run the way , even to the end of heaven, for 
they felt that the testimony of the Lord is faithful. 
They did not turn from the appointed goal to the right 
hand or to the left , but entered the one true Church, 
and faithful to her teachings, the powerful vivifying 
grace of the Sacraments strengthening the upright 
instincts of a well disposed nature, they became 
objects of admiration and veneration for the godli¬ 
ness of their lives. 

By their fruits they became known to all! 

Now surely the Evil Spirit, who, under a special 
dispensation may have a knowledge of the future, 
would not be the factor of results so eminently leading 
to sanctification of souls, glory to the Church, honor 
to God—nay to his own confusion. Such fruits he 
could never wish to reap. 

On the other hand summon before your judgment 


26 


WIZARD CLIP. 


those who were not the close or direct participants 
in those Dispensations, but knew of them, or had 
more or less witnessed their effects—persons of unin- 
peachable lives, exquisite training, upright and inde¬ 
pendent, (individuals of doubtful character only, 
whom the manifestations affected, refused either tes¬ 
timony, or assent), having no reason, motive or induce¬ 
ment to fabricate, countenance, color, or abet false 
deeds and false statements—such, who at first pooh- 
poohed the bruiting of some unearthly manifesta¬ 
tions, yet on hearing the details and examining facts 
and persons with a calm curiosity, could not with¬ 
hold the assent of a cool judgment—of these some 
being non-Catholics, others of the Catholic faith—of 
the latter such men as John Carroll the first Ameri¬ 
can Bishop, and Thomas Mulledy, and John Grassi, 
and Reverend Prince Demetrius Gallitzin, with his 
tutor F. X. Brosius, D. D., whose astronomical 
works are held in so high repute—add Anthony 
Kolilman, whose name is yet a bug-bear to the aris¬ 
tocratic Brahmins of Hew England, the bosom friend 
of Leo XII, a man from whose authority in matters 
of moral none dared to appeal, and whom God chose 
in later times to be instrumental in another won¬ 
drous manifestation of His Mercy and Power—I say, 
take all this mass of testimonials, opinions, and judg¬ 
ments, and—what conclusion will a reader come to ? 


WIZARD CLIP. 


27 


Y et for myself I would fain let all this testimony, 
weighty as it is, go unheeded, and would willingly 
judge the cause on its simple merits as set forth in 
the straightforward and clear unbiassed narrative of 
H. S., which I give below. There is a prima facie 
evidence in these pages, which carries conviction in 
its words. 

Lastly set in array before your mind all those per¬ 
sonages so high in science, and exalted in Christian 
perfection, who are yet living in honored old age, and 
who readily give evidence to these manifestations— 
and what will you say ? 

But then where are the authorities ex adverso f 
I find none, except some slight cynicism, or a stupid 
doubt. 

O reader judge for thyself? 


CORRESPONDENCE. 

I. Georgetown Coll., Jan. 18,1872. DearFr.— 
. . . . The old MSS. in possession of Rev. J. 

Early, which was written by Br. Moberly, about 1821, 
has the same matter as the MSS. I sent you (and which 
I have received again). It adds, however, that the 
narrative was made about 1818, by Rev. Mr. Muh 
ledy, then a scholastic, at the request of Rev. A. 



28 


WIZARD CLIP. 


Kohlman. They both went up to Sulphur Springs (1) 2 , 
and visited Mrs. McSlierry who related it to 
them. The Bro. himself had lived about 30 miles 
from there, met persons to whom the facts were 
known, and had seen at Conewago (3) 4 some of the 
articles left there by Livingston, which had been cut 
by the Spirit. He adds that L. related the circum¬ 
stances to Abp. Carroll, etc. 

USIT 3 1 myself was acquainted with an old lady, who 
said that she remembered the circumstances. She 
was then a small child, and lived at Harper’s Ferry. 
She said that one lady had carried to the house a new 
cap, which, for protection, she kept in a reticule while 
in the house. Notwithstanding this, when she left 
the house, she found her cap all cut to pieces, without 
injury to the reticule. The son of this old lady lives 
in Washington and could easily recall his mother’s 
account if needed. 

Sincerely Yrs in Xt, Jno. S. Sumner, S.J. 

D Oar friend is a great rummager among old records. With 
a tenacious memory he possesses keen discernment. Did he 
doubt any part of Bro. M’s account he would correct it. 

2) Y. Mrs. McSherry’s Account in H. S's Correspondence, 
No. XIII. 

3) Y. Infra Fr. Enders’ Letter, No. YI. 

4) Is this the gentleman who wrote Letter YII? Let the 
reader bear in mind that this worthy gentleman is not a Catho¬ 
lic ; the more weight in his utterance. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


29 


IL G. T. C., Jan. 30, ’72. 

. . . Fr. Early makes no objection to yonr pub¬ 

lishing the narrative. . . . Always glad to oblige 
you, Yours very truly, 

Jno. S. Sumner, S.J. 


III. G. T. C., Feb. 25, ’72. 

The letter I enclose 0) is from an old gentleman, 
whose mother’s reminiscence of the 4 Wizard Clip ’ 
affair, I alluded to in a former letter. . . 

Yours sincerely, 

John S. Sumner, S.J. 


IY. Littlestown, Pa., Jan. 31, ’72. 

Rev. and Dear Sir [to Fr. J. S. S.] 

. . . . My father’s residence was about 4 miles 

distant [from Livingston]. He and my mother fre¬ 
quently visited them. I was young at the time— 
remember the visits of Father Gallitzin—His 44 De¬ 
fence of Catholic Principles” and “Letter on the 
Scriptures ” have been published—he alludes to the 
family in one of these publications. . . . There 

(1) V. infra the already quoted No. VII. 

3 * 





30 


WIZARD CLIP. 


is no member of the family in that part of the coun¬ 
try. Mr. Livingston and family left many years ago 
for Cambria Co., Pa., the residence of Fr. Gallitzin.— 
Wizard Clip is about 15 miles S. W. of Harper’s 
Ferry. I do not know of any Catholic residing 
there. I doubt very much whether any more infor¬ 
mation could be obtained by visiting there. 

Yours respectfully, 

Richard McSherry. 0) 


i) This is a name that awakens many sweet and glorious mem¬ 
ories. Richard McSherry was a venerable man, a justly-trusted 
physician, and a highly revered citizen. Towards the close of 
his life he spent about two years in Littlestown, Pa.—Educated 
at Georgetown College, he passed through the course, ere the 
College could confer Degrees, •which power Congress did not 
grant until 1815. He was over twenty years old at that time, 
and able to weigh the merits of the Clip’s cause. His short letter 
conveyed an impression of belief. He served in the ranks of the 
U. S. Army in the War of 1812; and in 1816, he graduated in 
Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; afterwards he 
practiced medicine, with great success, for over fifty years, in 
Martinsburg, Ya. The two generations, that witnessed the vir¬ 
tues by him practiced during his long career of four score, gave 
him a place in their love and esteem second to no one. He was 
born in Berkely, now Jefferson Co., Ya.j in 1792, and died in 
Baltimore, in 1873. (v. Catholic Mirror.) 

His son, Richard McSherry, M.D., late U. S. A., is a physi¬ 
cian of the highest renown in Baltimore, at this moment. We 



WIZARD CLIP. 


31 


V. Littlestown, 7 Feb., 72. 

Rev. and Bear Sir [Fr. J. S. S.] 

I sent you in my letter all that I could remember 
—Mrs. Annastatia McSherry was the wife of Richard 
McSherry, and Samuel Lilly W was her brother. 

There is nothing else. 

Yours, Respectfully, 

Richard McSherry. 

Mrs. Annastatia McSherry was my mother. 

are proud of his friendship—Besides several historical and literary 
works (one : El Puchero , written from his reminiscences during 
the Mexican War,) he is a contributor of very able articles to 
Medical Journals. In conversation he told me, that his honored 
father remembered a visit of the Prince Missionary to his father’s 
house, of several weeks duration, to gather facts about Mr. Liv¬ 
ingston and family—but his father knew none, except from hear¬ 
say and tradition. 

l) With fond reminiscence I remember a visit of several 
days, I paid, in company with the late Pr. Thomas Lilly, S. J. 
(who d. some years ago, at St. Joseph’s, Phila.) to Samuel Lilly, 
Esqr., A. D. 1848. He was then over four score years old, a 
cripple j yet he rode out every day, the old faithful nag coming 
up to the block, from the stable, of her own accord, after having 
been saddled at the usual hour, after breakfast, and placing him¬ 
self in a proper position for the master to vault in the saddle 
with ease. “Squire Sam ” was indeed a glorious old Catholic, 
the arbiter of all difficulties in the neighborhood. 



32 


WIZARD CLIP. 


VI. Conewago, Adams Co., Pa., Feb. 21, 72. 

Rev. and Dear Sir [the compiler]. 

. . . . They [the Livingstons] never lived at 

Conewago any length of time, they only visited this 
place soon after their conversion, a visit that may 
have been more than a flying one. Some of the 
clipped clothes had been kept in this house for a long 
while, at least till 1830 odd, when Fr. Lekeu (1) had 
them burnt. Mrs. McSlierry, who sent the priest to 
Livingston’s house, was not a sister but a cousin to 
Sam Lilly[! ?]. The most reliable account you could 
obtain from Dr. McSlierry, who moved last year from 
Martinsburg, to Littlestown, Adams Co., Pa., an 
octogenarian, who seems to be familiar with the most 
remarkable circumstances. I entertained some hope 
to meet him before writing, but I was disappointed. 

. . . No doubt it would be interesting to have 

the account of Dr. McSlierry, perhaps the only quasi 


1) “Father Matthew Lekeu was a native of Belgium, b. 
1788, entered the Company of Jesus 1816, and was a priest at 
least by 1823. He was pastor of Conewago for many years, until 
1845, when he was stationed at Newtown, St. Mary's Co., Md., 
and in that year, or the following returned to his native country, 
where he died a few years ago.” Fr. J. S. Sumner, G. T. C., 
Ap. 1, 72. 




WIZARD CLIP. 


33 


witness of those occurrences (1) . The daughter of 
Sam Lilly, Miss Sally L., 71 years of age (2) remem¬ 
bers great many particulars, but Dr. McSherry, who is 
10 years older and had been living on the spot [not 
so], could give a more satisfactory account. . . . 

Your Ob’t Svt., 

J. Enders, S.J. (3) 


VII. Washington, Feb. 23, ’72. 

My Dear Friend: 

. . . I wish I could give you the information 

you desire in relation to the “ Wizzard Clip ” doings ; 

1) The good doctor, as can be easily seen by his correspon¬ 
dence, did not seem very willing to communicate all he knew. 
Prompted by the highest principles of honor, & a keen sense of 
truthfulness he hesitated to trust his memory. Then, like others, 
whose corroborating evidence I publish, he seemed to shrink 
from notoriety in connection with the matter of the “Clip." 
The motive is easily understood. But this very fact adds weight 
to their testimony, however scanty, and fairly attests to the truth 
of the general facts. 

2) Unfortunately I delayed writing to this estimable lady too 
long, I have thus lost one of the best opportunities for informa¬ 
tion. 

2) This venerable Jesuit Missionary is still (May 1878) in 
charge of that one of the oldest Catholic Missions in the U. S., 
founded in 1741, by Fr. W. Wappeler, S. J. 




34 


WIZARD CLIP. 


but I can not as they had ceased in my early infancy. 
I heard much when a lad—too marvellous at this day 
to believe. I may visit Jefferson County this summer, 
and if I do, will try & see some of my aged friends 
there to give me some of the “ clipping doings ” in 
the last century [what use to ask if they cannot be 
believed at this day?~\. In the meantime let me 
refer you to John Gallagher, Esq. (1 >, now living in 
this City, who edited a paper within five miles of 
Smithfield (now Middleway), more than fifty years 
ago. Mr. G. is a member of your church, very intel¬ 
ligent, perfectly familiar with the people, and was 
then a member of the Virginia Legislature, many 
years. He, no doubt, can tell all the stories told 
and believed about the Ghost at Livingston’s. . . . 

Your friend, 

P. Id. Williamson, 

llev. John S. Sumner. 24110th str. 


VIII. St. Peter’s Church, i 

Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., March 8, 1872. ] 
Rev. and Dear Sir : 

The “ Clip ” property in this County still belongs 
to the Church and embraces about 34 acres of land, 
not of great value. The famous “ Ghost ” house is 


l) v. Letter IX. 




WIZARD CLIP. 


35 


no longer in existence. I do not know when it per¬ 
ished. Perhaps the one most competent to furnish 

information is Mrs. H-S-, of Martinsburg, 

W. Ya. (1) , who possesses some of the old papers. 
She is a descendant of Mr. McSherry, who accom¬ 
panied Fr. Cahill when he exorcised the house. 

Yours, very Truly, 

John J. Fain. (2) 


IX. Washington, D. C., April 7, 1872. 

Rev. Fr. Sumner, Georgetown College, 

Dear Sir : 

. . . What I know of the matter is derived 

from vaguC tradition. I was born in Martinsburg, 
& lived some 10 years in Charleston, 6 miles from 
Middleway (Wizard Clip), and heard the subject 

1) The testimony of this estimable lady, one of my earliest 
most esteemed friends in the U. S., is given under No. XIII. 

2) Et. Kev. John Joseph Kain, D.D., was chosen successor 
to the pioneer Bishop of Virginia, Dr. Whelan, whose memory 
is in benediction. Dr. Kain was consecrated Bishop of Wheel¬ 
ing, W. Virginia, May 23, 1875, and still in the vigor of youth¬ 
ful manhood, governs with unmistakeable proof of apostolic zeal 
that interesting portion of the American vineyard. His Pas¬ 
torals breathe the fervor, vigilance, anxiety and fatherly care of 
the Chrysostoms and Nazianzens. 






36 


WIZARD CLIP. 


often referred to, but the details were not sufficiently 
impressed upon my memory to enable me to state 
any thing satisfactorily. The queer [!] demonstra¬ 
tions must have occurred 70 years ago, whilst I was 
a child. . . . 

With great respect, 

Yours truly, 

John S. Gallaher. 


X. Dev. and Dear Sir , 

. . . Young children could see the author of 

the voice: older people could not. So said the infor¬ 
mant of 

Yours Truly, 

James A. Healy. (1 ) 

April 13, 1872. 

XI. After Father Sumner had kindly communi¬ 
cated to me Mr. Gallaher’s Letter, I made bold to 
write to that gentleman, who very obligingly replied 
in the following : 

Washington, D. C., Ap. 27, 1872. 

Dear Sir: 

Your letter of the 5th March last ought to have 
been answered promptly, but the reply would have 
been of little service to you, as I have nothing but 
vague tradition on the subject of the famous Wizard 


1) Sinco consecrated Bishop of Maine & New Hampshire. 





WIZARD CLIP. 


37 


Clip. Sickness in my family has prevented me from 
looking np Mr. James McSherry, who was born 
within a few miles of Middleway W and has a very 
retentive memory. The clippings referred to took 
place [then he admits . . . ] 70 years ago, when 

I was but three years old. W 

In 1821 I established at Harper’s Terry a Weekly, 
the Free Press— and also published for 4 years a 
small literary paper, the Ladies' Garland , both sec¬ 
ular papers. In 1827,1 removed to Charlestown, . . . 
having bought the Farmer's Repository .... 
[its files & printing office burnt in 1862]. I do not 
recollect any publication on the subject of the clip¬ 
pings, except a small pamphlet < 1 2 3) by Prince Gallit- 
zen, a priest for some years at Pittsburg, Pa., [?!] of 
w^hich I had a copy. . . (I was born in Martins- 

burg, Berkeley Co., 1 Dec., 1796.) 

1) This notable circumstance gives great weight to what¬ 
ever little information Mr. James McSherry may feel reluctantly 
disposed to give. Y. n. XII. 

2) When the Manifestations came to a close, Mr. G. had 
grown up to that age when he must have felt disposed to make 
inquiries, especially in such matters, in which eminent Catholics 
of his own church took so much interest; and from the natural 
dispositions, which he avers to have possessed, no doubt he must 
have heard a great deal about it. 

3) Eev. D. Gallitzin did not write a pamphlet, that I know 

of, but he only gave an account of it in a little controversial 
work. Y. infra. 4 



38 


WIZARD CLIP. 


I was a member of the Legislature of Va, 11 years, 
and had many friends at Middleway. I have a great 
fondness for Eeminiscences, and yet, strange to say, 
I never treasured up any on the subject referred to. 
In the session of 1830, I introduced a bill to estab¬ 
lish an election precinct at Middleway, and this 
afforded an eminent member the opportunity for a 
facetious inquiry, whether this was the celebrated 
Wizard Clip f Thinking that the distinguished 
member was disposed to kill my bill with a joke—■ 
for a witticism is often more potent than logic—1 
retorted with some severity, and the joker apologized 
like a true gentleman. 

I truly regret that I am unable to give you any 
information on a subject which you could render 
interesting in Catholic History. With wishes for 
your success in a laudable work, 

I am, yours truly, 

John S. Gallaher. (1) 


XII. [The following explains to a certain extent 
the reticence of the previous writer—i. e. memory 
weakened by a long lapse of time. 

1) Mr. Gallaher has since been gathered to his fathers. R.I.P. 

Had we no other document, the above correspondence affords 
a very strong proof of the existence of those manifestations. 
The writer’s study to dissemble is evident. "What motive he 




wizard clip. 


39 


In the note, I meet the objection raised from the 
somewhat morbid sensitiveness, dreading a publica¬ 
tion of facts in which names of his family must 
needs, yet in a most honorable connection, to be 
mentioned.] 


Washington, D. C. 

April 30th, 1872. 

Father John S. Sumner. 

My dear Sir, 

I respectfully inform you that I received your 
letter of yesterday and have called to see Mr. Gal- 
lalier this morning. He informs me that all he 
knows about these occurrences amounts Only to oral 
tradition [yet he lived near the place of and during 
the manifestations] and the lapse of time is so great, 
that he could give nothing that would be interesting 
on the subject. 

As my relations are very prominent figures in the 

may have had in this seeming discredit , it would not be very 
difficult to find. But the silence of the grave hushes even our 
pen. Yet in his own avowal of an innate “ fondness for Remin¬ 
iscences ” it is but natural that the feelings of vexation to which 
the taunts and ridiculing of non-Catholics gave rise in the souls 
of Catholics, in those early days, may have clung to the heart of 
our departed friend, as well as of others, to his oldest years. 
This and a slight disposition to skepticism may have influenced 
his belief,'or lack of belief. Yet his letter proves the reality of 
those manifestations, beyond cavil. 




40 


WIZARD CLIP. 


History of the remarkable affair, I think the manu¬ 
script should be submitted to some of my family 
before publication 0). There were some papers 
published a few years since in the Baltimore Mirror, 
which were not authorized by our family, and which 
did not please us 

With great respect I remain your obedient servt 

James McSherry ( 1 2 3) . 

1) I have met this objection by communicating this letter to 
several members of the McSherry family, one of the most 
respectable in the Old Dominion. They, with the interesting 
and responsible lady correspondent from Martinsburg, have 
waived all objections. Family pride, and a natural shrinking 
from notoriety, may have prompted good Mr. McS. to insert 
that caveat. But the first as well as the second vanish before the 
motives which have inspired the compiler and his correspon¬ 
dents, and others, likewise, in publishing these facts, to wit: 
the assurance received from One of the Seven who stand before 
the Lord , that it is honorable to reveal and confess the works of 
God. Tob. xii. 15, 7. 

2) Those papers were communicated by a resp msible and 
highly respectable member of the McSherry family: v. No XIII. 
—these papers were entrusted into the hands of a venerable 
clergyman, second to no man in judgment, and of great delicacy 
of tact—those papers were published by a most respectable 
Catholic Publishing House, the name of a member thereof being 
prominent in the records contained in them. I hope no one 
will be found straining a gnat of indelicacy out of n>y tankard. 

3) Mr. McSherry is a graduate of Georgetown, a lawyer by 
profession, altho’ retired from business now, and has filled respon- 



WIZAltD CLIP. 


41 


As I am about laying before my readers the fol¬ 
lowing Deposition , I feel like appropriating to myself 
the words of the Roman orator: Gaudeo , quod te, 
dear highly esteemed friend of many years, interpel- 
lavi , quaiidoquidem tam clarum mihi dedisti testimo¬ 
nium (de Leg. iii. 1.) Verily, it may be said of her, 
that incorruptaepondera testis habet. But not only 
is she unbiassed, incorrupta : she is also so straight¬ 
forward, that truth speaks out, in self evidence, at 
every line: there is a naivete indescribable in her 
style: she writes con amove , and the enthusiasm of 
her soul, giving the testimony of her mother adds a 
peculiar zest to her narrative. For this reason the 
reader will forgive me, if I narrate an episode relating 
a touching experience of the last war, foreign indeed 

3ible offices under the Federal Government. Being 65 years of 
age, he was not born at the time of the ‘ Wizard Clip ’; a cir¬ 
cumstance to be born in mind in reading his letter. 

Altho’ connected by marriage, his family is distantly related to 
that of James McShcrry, Esq. of Littlestown, Pa., in which State 
he was born, and who died some twenty years ago. A gentleman 
was he of the highest standing, who had served a score of years 
in public life, mostly in the U. S. Senate, and once in Congress. 
James McSherry the accomplished writer, historian of Mary¬ 
land, a most dear intimate friend of ours, so early, alas ! taken 
from us by a sudden death, was his son. He once encourage"d 
us to publish these papers. These circumstances we note to 

avoid confusion of genealogies; 

4* 




42 


WIZARD CLIP. 


to the subject, but so interesting, that I could not 
forbear copying it into these pages. When, at the 
suggestion of the worthy Pastor of Harper's ferry, 
now a highly esteemed Prelate of the Church, I 
addressed her with that reserve which must prompt 
the words of a gentleman and a priest writing to a 
lady supposed unknown to the writer,—a stranger to 
a stranger—great was my surprise, when her prompt 
and courteous answer bespoke, in affectionate terms, 
the feelings of an old and dear friend. More than a 
quarter of a century ago, I enjoyed the hospitality 
of her parent’s home, with that expansion of home¬ 
like friendship, nowhere felt by a priest more purely 
and unalloyed than in the home of southern catho¬ 
lics. It was at the close of my first year of priest¬ 
hood, in August, 1848, when I enjoyed a few 
days of vacation with that paragon of a true Irish 
gentleman, and devoted priest, the Pev. Joseph 
Plunkett, beloved and esteemed pastor then of Mar¬ 
tin sburg, Ya. 

Tedious as the copying of long letters must needs 
be, and a regretful task, when one in my position 
has so many important duties to perform that I 
cannot give to this work but subcaesivas hbras , nay 
’and the hours which poor fatigued nature claims for 
its rest—irksome, I say, as this work must necessa- 


WIZARD CLII\ 


43 


rily prove, yet in my case it becomes the source of 
pleasure. For not only the consciousness of working 
ad major era Dei gloriam , is both an encouragement 
and a solace, but it makes a man, more than three 
score years old, live his youth over again. The 
woman, a mother now, with grown up children 
around her, and the refined lady, is forgotten, and 
you only converse with the frisky, cheery, and affec* 
tionate little girl, who sat long ago on a cricket at 
your feet, entertaining you with the all important 
experiences of her daily life. Yea, I see my corres¬ 
pondent in that attitude even now, at thousands of 
miles distance and through the mist of a long eventful 
life. Blessed days of youth! what a gulf, an abyss 
of trials, labors, sufferings, sad experiences, yawns at 
this hour between those days brim full of unalloyed 
joy,and the bleak reality of old age! . . . 

But am I not straying from my path? Well for¬ 
give an old man, who lives much on the past, and 
must needs be garrulous, and Laudator Temporis 
Acti. 

And prefacing my earnest thanks to the writer, I 
begin to copy her interesting and exhaustive corres¬ 
pondence :—- 


u 


WIZARD CLIP. 


1. Martinsburg April 1st 1872 

JRev. Dear Sir. 

You address me, Father, as a stranger; I assure 

you, I remember Father-with great affection 

since I was a great favorite with him when at the 

Visitation Convent in-, at school. You have 

long since forgotten little H. 1ST. who sat at your 
knee and expected sugar plums every time you came. 
I was the smallest child in school. . . . 

Now I have introduced myself. .... 

I have no original papers about the “ Clip,” only 
copies of the record kept at Georgetown College. 
The witnesses are Doctor Carroll, Kev. Father 
Gallitzin, Father Brosius, Father Pelentz, Father 
Denis Cahill, since returned to Ireland. My copy 
was written by Dr. Becker (now Bishop of Wil¬ 
mington, Del.) who copied it when he was here, 
before he began to study for the Priesthood, and the 
traditions are in my mother’s writing. I promised 
her I would never let the little book pass out of my 
hands. If you wish me to copy it for you I will do 
so with pleasure. If my mother was living she could 
call to mind many interesting items. She furnished 
Fr. Preston of Kentucky, I think, with materials, 
for those “ Clip Papers ” published in the Catholic 
Mirror some years since, I do not know what year, as 



WIZARD CLIP. 


45 


I was down South then : it was during the early part 
of the War. You are correct, there was no church 
in Shepherdstown—Mass was said in a large room 
kept by some pious family. Father Denis Cahill 
was the Priest who was saying Mass when Mr. L. 
went in : he then went home with him, accompanied 
by my grand-father Richard McSherry, and Mr. 
Minghini. The Priest blessed the house, and said 
some prayers: then some money that had been mis¬ 
sing was found on the door step as the priest passed 
out.—Only two of Mr. L’s children are mentioned 
as having any piety; one son and one daughter who 
died in the odor of sanctity. Eve and Henry were 
their names. When Mr. L. left Ya. for Pennsyl¬ 
vania, he left TO acres (1) 2 of land and a small house 
for church use, and the Voice said that before the end 
of time, that would be a great place for Prayer and 
Fasting. It belongs still to this Diocese.—I have 
tried in vain to learn when the 6 Clip ’ house was 
pulled down.—A vest made of Goat skin marked 
I. H. S. by the Spirit—this Was taken to the Cone- 


1) Y. Letter VIII. 

2) In the division of the Diocese of Virginia, episcopal see of 
Richmond, Martinsburg (Berkeley Co.) remained attached to 
that part of the old Diocese which comprises Eastern Virginia, 
with 'Richmond for its head quarters. 



46 


WIZARD CLIP. 


wago church (1) , I think: A red flannel shirt or 
waistcoat was taken by aunt Susan Piet (2) to the 
Barrens, Perry Co. Missouri, a long time since, and 
left there. A hand was marked, stretched out, 
leaving the strip unburned that remained between 
the fingers. I knew the lady well (she was a girl 
then), who was ironing the clothing at Mr. Living¬ 
ston’s at the time. The Yoice had made them rise 
three times in the night to pray for the Dead: but 
the thought passed through the maiden’s head, that 
“ the souls could have saved themselves, and deserved 
the pain, any how the thing was exaggerated” when, 
lo! the shirt was snatched from her, and the hand 
impressed on it. She has told me of it often—she 
died in 1863.— 

I have the Cradle in which my uncle William 
McSherry was rocked by the Evil Spirit (3) —my six 
little ones have all been rocked in the same cradle. 
I have also the Crucifix from which our dear Lord 
spoke to my Grandmother. 

I have copies of letters, two of them from her 

1) Y. Letters of Fr. Enders & Prince Gallitzin. 

2) V. Mr. J. Piet’s Letter, infra, & its references. 

3) This is the only time when the presence of an Evil Spirit 
is explicitly mentioned. This matter remains rather unex¬ 
plained. 



CRADLE, CRUCIFIX AND MISSAL 
See pages 07, 71 and 7*2. 

































































































































































































































* 







































- 













' 'l 

t 








































« 










WIZARD CLIP. 


47 


[grandmother] to her Brother Sam Lilly W about 
the Voice, and two from Fr. Gallitzin to my aunt, 
Mrs. Doll (9) written in 1839, in which he regrets 
the loss of his original records concerning the Living¬ 
ston family. 

I am under promise to my dead mother not to let 
these papers go out of my hands: but I will with 
great pleasure copy them for you, if you desire it. 

My mother (3) was often favored with supernatural 
visitations. She was told while kneeling in church 
to prepare and make her last confession. She did so, 
told the Father Confessor of it, then she came home 
to my house, and gave the children her last farewell. 
She then made all her last arrangements, how she 
was to be buried &c. That same evening she was 
taken ill, and died on the third day from the warning 
[which had been given her by her own mother]. 


1) V. Letter of Mrs. McSherry III under C. 

2) Letter of the Missionary Fr. Gallitzin. 

3) Mrs. N. reminded one of the 1 2 3 virtuous woman * of Holy 
"Writ; so quiet calm and unostentatious, and withal energetic, 
weil educated, and eminently pious. One felt to be in the 
presence of a superior being, whom you could not help admir¬ 
ing, esteeming, revering and loving. Often has the admirable, 
amiable countenance of that lady been brought to my mind, 
during these last thirty years, r. i. p. 




48 


WIZARD CLIP. 


My mother promised me. ... I hope I can fur¬ 
nish you interesting items for your work. . . . 

Begging your prayers and Blessing, I remain 

Your child in Xt 

H. S. 

2. April 13. 

I must thank you for the dear little book [Dr. 
Hayden’s Life of Rev. D. Gallitzin] ... it does 
not do him justice, I think. Nothing is said of his 
labors in Virginia.[Here two pleas¬ 

antly written pages of old reminiscences, at school 
and at home]. My husband took us to Fayetteville 
X. C. during the war (in which my brother died, 
serving as surgeon in the C. A.)—and we remained 
there till Gen. Sherman burned the house over our 
heads, at 11 o’cl. at night: he gave us only 15 min¬ 
utes to dress the little ones: we lost our little home 
we had toiled to secure: all we had in the world 
was destroyed that night, and we found ourselves 
with just the clothes we had on, and one silver five 
cent piece. When morning came, we heard that 
transportation was open to allow persons of northern 
birth to go north. I availed myself of the opportu¬ 
nity, being born in Maryland. We went to Balti¬ 
more, to make our way into Virginia. ... As 
you have a copy of the Georgetown record, I need 




WIZARD CLIP. 


49 


not send you that; but my mother’s traditions are much 
more in detail and explicit. I will copy them faith¬ 
fully for you—indeed, I do not think it would be an 
infringement on my promise, but they are written in 
a little book, with other family matters: they are 
not very lengthy, and as I know, were she living, 
she would willingly furnish them to you. ... I 
do not know who or where Fr. Preston lived, only 
think he was somewhere in Kentucky. Dr. Richard 
M’Sherry, now in Littlestown, is my mother’s brother, 
oldest of the family now living. Mr. Minghini was 
an Italian, who lived near Leetown, not far from 
grand-father’s farm. You will know more of him 
from the Tradition Book. 

I cannot say, whether the waistcoat is still in 
existence. Mrs. Piet (Susan McSherry) took it with 
her to Missouri in 1840, as near as I can recollect, 
and left it at a convent where her daughters [cousins 
of the writer, and one—since Sr. Mary Samuel of the 
Visitation B. V. M.] were going to school; that is a 
long time ago, and I cannot ask any information of 
any one here; only one old servant is left, who thinks 
the name of the convent was “ The Sisters of Mary 
at the Foot of the Cross.” [Sisters of Loretto, 
Daughters of our Lady of Sorrows. Loretto, 
Marion Co. Ky. ? W ]—none of the whites of the 


l) V. Letter XIY. 


5 



50 


WIZARD CLIP. 


family are here.—The girl, whose thoughts of Pur¬ 
gatory were so strangely interrupted, was Posa 
McSlierry, niece of Grandfather’s, and William 
McSherry’s daughter. He married a protestant, and 
to obtain sole charge of the child, he signed all his 
property to his wife, and left here, taking his child to 
grandpa’s, where he lived the remainder of his life. 
Rosa married a Mr. Thomas, 0) long since dead : 
her children still live on a farm in this county, left 
them by her father. I can, whenever you wish, have 
the'cradle, and the crucifix photographed in excel¬ 
lent style. 

It would certainly make an improvement in your 
book. 

Mrs. Catharine Doll, nee McSlierry, was my 
mother’s youngest sister. 

Mrs. Anastasia McSherry was my Grand-mother. 
The Voice always called her u Richard McSherry’s 
helpmate.” I have the letters she wrote to her 

1) I copy all these items, because they may prove, in the 
hands of more competent and industrious gleaners the means 
t) open new sources of information. I have done my part. 
Let others, whose energy is not impaired, and may command 
better resources, go to work. There must be mines yet unex¬ 
plored. I only regret I have allowed my labors, however light 
they may appear, to be interrupted, and their results lie dormant, 
against the earnest remonstrances of many friends. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


51 


brother Sam Lilly CDj in one of them she speaks of 
her brother John, who had been in the Novitiate 
[Soc. Jesu ?], but had lost his faith ; she was told [by 
the Yoice] to go to him, to beg of him - to return to 
God < 1 2) . Alas-! he did not, and died in his sins, as 
had been foretold ! for, he was thrown from his horse, 
his neck was broken, and [he] died suddenly. This 
sad very sad event occurred in Kentucky. 

If there is anything in my letters, you think 
available for publication, in the book you intend to 
give us, you are welcome to make any use you think 
fit < 3) : you are perfectly at liberty in this matter. 
You may safely rely upon all being strictly true and 
correct; but, pray, do never mention my name; for 
I am unworthy of the honor. 


1) v. Letter III. under 0. 

2) The reader will bear in mind that our correspondent gives 
the items either as they are supplied by her beloved parent’s 
“ Record ”, or as they occur to her memory, on which they had 
been engraven by conversation with the kin and kindred of the 
generation before her own. No reference made by her to Let¬ 
ters, Relations, &c., of others. 

3) We hope this will prove sanction satisfactory enough, even 
for the most fastidious persons who either bear the name, or are 
related to the Dramatis Personae. This correspondent not only 
does not object to, but seems even gratified at having the account 
made public. 




52 


WIZARD CLIP. 


3. April 22. 

I fear, dear Father, you will find this account very 
disconnected, hut it was written just as the events 
came to mind. When my mother and sisters and 
brothers would sit and talk over their childhood, these 
events would come to mind, and nothing was written 
that all did not distinctly remember to have heard 
from their sainted mother’s lips. My mother was 
always delicate, and sat in her mother’s room, more 
than any of the other sisters, so she could call to 
mind many little things the others did not remember, 
probably because she heard them spoken of oftener, 
and [they] made more impression on her naturally 
religious mind. I remember, she often, when speak¬ 
ing of Aunt Mary Spaulding’s death, told me, that 
when the gates were opened> for grand-pa and grand¬ 
ma to pass, it was on the day of her death. They went 
to Mr. Livington’s and the gates were opened all the 
way. When they came to the door, the door opened, 
and Mr. Livingston had just risen from his chair to 
open it, as he heard them coming. Grand-ma said, 
“ How is this ? ” he answered “ Your sister Mary has 
opened the gates and door: she is dead and needs your 
help.” The Yoice did not tell them why she needed 
their help, until after her soul was taken to heaven. 
—Mrs. Rosa Thomas (McSherry) often told me of 


WIZARD CLIP. 


53 


the angel’s visit, and added, that Mr. Livingston sent 
her to open the gate of the front yard for the visitors 
to pass, and as she swung the gate back lie vanished, 
[and] Mr. Livingston remained on the porch looking 
after him.—She often told us of a piece of new linen 
she and Eve Livingston were bleaching, 40 yards in 
the piece. One day as they were spreading the linen 
on the grass, it was taken away from their sight, and 
for three weeks nothing was seen of it. Well, after 
many prayers (for in those days that was a serious 
loss) they were both standing by an open window 
and saw their linen, nicely folded and bleached on 
the bush. 

When, as you will see in your Georgetown record, 
Grand-ma was praying before her Crucifix, it was on 
Holy Thursday—her custom was to go to Frederick 
every Holy Week, to attend the services—this time 
her babe was sick—my mother was the babe—the 
voice which spoke to her from the Crucifix, made her 
raise her eyes (she always prayed with her eyes 
closed and her arms crossed on her breast), and told 
her “ that child would comfort her yet.” So it proved, 
for when Grand-mother was dying, she left her 
youngest child, then about one year old, to my 
mother’s care, and made her the promise that, if she 
would do a mother’s part by that babe, she, Grand-ma, 

5* 


54: 


WIZARD CLIP. 


would ask Almighty God to grant her whatever she 
most wished. My mother asked to know of her 
^ death when it was near, and Grandmother promised to 
give her three days notice, which she did, and my 
mother faithfully did her duty to her little sister. 
What a consoling thought to mothers that the inno¬ 
cence of their children protects them! My children 
have been my safeguard more than once. After my 
brother’s death, my mother’s health failed so rapidly 
that I was written to come home from the South to 
cheer her up.' This was in 1863. I came home 
bringing my two children with me (we had buried 
one little boy down there)—I remained home for 
^ eight months, when orders were issued, that all per¬ 
sons should take the oath or leave Virginia. I could 
not and would not take the oath—so I was sent 
“ through the lines” up the Valley as far as a small 
town called Middletown, myself and three little ones, 
one three months old. Well: I was the only woman, 
and went through the two armies, and I had not one 
single word of disrespect or unkindness said to me. 
One day 6) as we were journeying along (I went 240 
miles) alone, part of the way in a little spring wagon, 
and a boy to drive, we stopped to rest on the top of 

1) Foreign as this episode may appear to the subject, it is 
too interesting to bo omitted. 




WIZARD CLIP. 


55 


Fisher Hill where Gen. Jenkins was killed, when a 
soldier came to borrow my baby. I handed my little 
Mary Lilly to him, and he went off by himself, with 
the babe closely hugged to his bosom. I w r aited 
sometime for him “ to return the loan,” but he tarried 
somewhere, and I saw no sign of him. Strange I 
felt no uneasiness or alarm : yet after awhile I went 
to hunt him up, and I found them both, the rugged 
soldier weeping like a child, and my dear angel 
sweetly asleep on his breast. He told me that w T lien 
he joined the army, he left behind him a young wife 
and a little son, in a happy home. But since, that 
home had been burnt, and both mother and son had 
died from exposure—he had pledged himself with 
an oath that he would be last to leave the field. 


The voice said, that those of the family who would 
remain faithful to God, would not suffer from the 
scourges that were hanging over the world, and they 
would moreover know when they were in favor with 
God. Of all the young members of our family, 
eight in all, who were in the whole long War, only 
my poor brother died ; none of the others even 
received the least injury. But he died from over 
exertion in attending to his duties at the hospital. 
His death was very sudden, but not unprepared, for 



56 


WIZARD CLIP. 


lie had fulfilled his Easter duties with Father Bixio, 
S. J. (1) , in Staunton, Ya. 

. . . . Mr. S. says ‘when you come, we can 

give you a hearty welcome, hut none of the luxuries 
of life. We are only poor people [not so when I 
knew them in their happy home, of 1848], trying 
hard to do our duty to our God, and the little souls 

he has given us in charge. 

Pray for 

H, S. 


1) This worthy Jesuit is still living; and we cannot say of 
him what we would like for the common edification. What a 
strange coincidence! Whilst Father Joseph is a devoted fol¬ 
lower of the Loyola, his brother Nino (who is said to have been 
devoured by the Cannibals of Oceanica) has left behind him a 
name not dear to the Catholics for the part he took in the treach¬ 
ery of September 17, 1870! Whilst Fr. Bixio was with the 
Federals in Virginia, he was told of some poor Catholics who 
were dying in the Confederate lines, and were begging the assist¬ 
ance of a priest. The good man presents himself at the outposts : 
challenged, he tells his errand: informed that if he went over to 
the enemy’s line he could not return home, he trusts himself to 
his Master’s care .... the consequence was he had to tarry 
with the Southern army for several months, and with it share 
all the perils and privations of a Confederate chaplain. If my 
memory does not play me false, either he was imprisoned, once, 
or taken for a spy. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


57 


4 . MRS. ANASTASIA MCSIIERRY TELLS HER CHILDREN 
THE HISTORY OF WIZAED CLIP 


This Mr. Livingston was a farmer, who lived in 
Pennsylvania; he was a Lutheran , most honest 
industrious man, who owned handsome property. 
This property began to diminish in a variety of 
ways, his barn was burnt, his horses and cattle died. 
His losses continuing, he left Penna and came to 
Virginia, Jefferson Co., and settled in Smithfield, 
sometimes called Leetown, where he had as much 
trouble as before: horses and cattle died, his clothes 
cut to pieces. 

They were often alarmed by strange noises in the 
house—like horses gallopping around—again, their 
clothes burning, their money taken away, and a great 
variety of strange doings—until at last they resolved 
to get some one to come and Lay the Devil. 

They tried conjurors and preachers, but to no pur¬ 
pose. 

At last Mr. L. had a dream: he thought he was 
climbing a high mountain, and had great difficulty to 
get up, had to labor hard, catching to roots and 
bushes, but when he had reached the top, he saw a 


l) In the hand writing of our fair correspondent. 




58 


WIZARD CLIP. 


Minister dressed in robes , as lie termed it. After 
looking at the Minister for sometime, lie heard a 
Voice saying: 

“This is the man who can relieve yon.” 

His wife heard him groaning in his sleep, and awoke 
him. Whereupon, he told her his dream, and said 
he did not know of a Minister who wore robes , hut 
would enquire early in the morning. 

Accordingly he started and travelled to Sliepherd- 
town, wliere^ he was told by some one that it was a 
Catholic Priest he was looking for, as Priests only 
dressed in robes , and was directed to go to Mr. Rich¬ 
ard McSherry, near Leetown, where he might find 
one. 

Late in the evening of the same day, Mrs. Mc¬ 
Sherry saw him coming up to her house: she met 
him at the gate, and when he told her what he wanted, 
to wit, ‘ to see the Priest,’ she told him, there was 
none at her house then, but there would be church 
in Shephcrdtown (1) next Sunday—there he could 
see one. 

Mr. & Mrs. McSherry went to church , next Sunday, 
— and there they found Mr Livingston. 

As the Priest appeared at the Altar, Mr. L. was 


) V. Supra ab initio. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


50 


very much overcome, wept bitterly, and exclaimed: 
“ This is the man I saw in my dream, he is the one 
to relieve me.” 

When Mass w’as over, he went in to talk to the 
Priest and told him his sad story: but the Priest (the 
Rev. Denis Cahill) only laughed at him, and told 
him it was only his neighbors plagueing him, and that 
he must go home and watch for them. Richard 
McSherry and Mr. Menghini were present, and were 
much moved by the old man’s tears, which made 
them listen to his sad story and tried to comfort 
him. 

After much [urging], and a. great deal of persua¬ 
sion Mr Cahill went to Mr Livingston’s, accompanied 
by Mr McSherry and Mr Menghini, and they both 
questioned the family. Finding they all told the 
same story, Mr C. sprinkled the house with Holy 
Water: and before they left, a sum of money that 
had been taken away was lying on the door-sill. 

So after he had Mass in the house, the work of 
destruction ceased. 

Mr Cahill visited them often, and received some of 
them in the church. 

There were a good many of the children grown ^:— 
Mr Livingston’s family frequently saw a brilliant light 


1) V. Supra Bp Hcaly’s Letter, no x 



60 


WIZARD CLIP. 


at night, and heard a Voice speaking, which made 
them get up and pray for poor Sinners, telling them 
that the Blessed Virgin had great power in behalf of 
poor Sinners, that they must say “ Holy Holy Holy, 
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us poor Sinners.”— 
Again: the Voice explained the Mass to them, say¬ 
ing that “ one Mass w T as more acceptable to God, than 
if the whole world was in sack-cloth and ashes,”—“ it 
was God a pure God offered up to God” 6).— 

On one occasion, when Mr L’s family were all 
assembled in one room, they saw a man in the midst 
of them, and supposing him to be a beggar, as he 'was 
poorly dressed and barefooted, the day being cold, Mr 
L. offered him clothes and shoes, which he accepted, 
but said “ were not needed where he came from.” He 
tarried some time, instructing them in the Christian 
doctrine, and talking to them : he told them “ Luther 
and Calvin were in hell, and every soul that was lost 
through their fault added to their torments.”—When 
he left the house, Mr. L. thought to watch him, to 
see where he went, as they had not seen him when 
he came in : they saw him go out by the front part of 
the house, and then disappear. 

•1) Strange expression: yet it cannot be called incorrect. 

2) Let it be borne in mind, that Mrs. A. McS. wrote whilst 
many of the Dramatis Personae were yet living. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


61 


Mr L’s family were often told to pray for the Dead; 
the Voice would say “I want prayers.” One day, 
when Mr L. was at work in the field, he was taken 
apparently ill, and his sons going to him, he told 
them he had heard a shriek from a soul in Purga¬ 
tory : he was unable to go home, and they had to 
help him : he was bent double. He often remarked 
afterwards, he could never forget it,—such a dreadful 
shriek! 

Mr L. lived in a small village, called Smithfield, 
about four miles from the McSherrys, and often went 
to see them; there were then but few Catholics in the 
neighborhood. Mr L. would call and say he was sent 
by the Voice to tell them things. On one occasion 
he came early in the morning, and told Mrs McS. 
that her sister, Mrs Mary Spalding, had died during 
the night in Baltimore, and she must have Masses 
offered for her: the Voice had said she “ was in Purga¬ 
tory for over indulgence to her children.’ 7 Mrs Mc- 
Sherry had eighty (80) Masses offered for her; at that 
time the mail came to Smithfield only once a week, and 
the next mail brought a letter with the news that Mrs 
McS. had died the very same hour told hy Mr. L — 
Many messages were sent by the Voice to Mrs McS. 
through Mr. Livingston. 

There was a protestant lady very sick, married to 
6 


WIZARD CLIP. 


62 

tlio Italian, Mr Menghini, of whom we have spoken, 
and who kept a boarding house, at the Sulphur 
Springs 6), not very far from Mr. McSherry’s farm. 
The Voice sent him word “to send for a Priest,” but 
he refused to do so, saying she had her own preachers 
(she had acknowledged them to be as a broken with¬ 
ering stick). Mr M. added he would have to send 
10 or 50 miles . Mrs McS. went to see this lady, 
and found her very well disposed, and anxious to do 
what was right. So Mrs McS. asked her to repeat 
an act of contrition after her,which she did,and seemed 
very penitent.—Mrs McS. went home, and that night 
had a dream, in which she saw an infant, sitting by 
an immense rock, or mountain [a heap] of rocks, 
with a small stick in his hands. The little child 
struck the rock, and, in an instant, the rock or rocks 
crumbled away. She said the dream made an im¬ 
pression on her [as suggestive, not like the common 
dream of disordered minds]. In the morning she 
thought of it, but said nothing to any one, as she sup- 

1) Refer this circumstance to what is said in the beginning of 
Br. Mobberly’s Narrative. No wonder the idea of collecting 
information sprang from a visit to the Sulphur Springs. 

2) Unfortunately Italians emigrating to this country are very 
apt to become Latitudinarians, ridiculing the idea of God caring 
for our trifles. We have abundant reason for making the re¬ 
mark. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


63 


posed it only a common dream. Now, in a little 
while, Mrs Livingston called, and told Mrs McS., she 
had had a vision, and Mrs Minghini was the subject 
of it—[here the MSS cuts rather short, and the tran¬ 
sition is abrupt]. That the rock was a representation 
of sins, [which] were melted away by sincere contri¬ 
tion and the Priest’s absolution. 

Mr Livingston’s eldest daughter, Eve, was a very 
pious and devoted Catholic, whilst some of the fam¬ 
ily never became converted. Mrs Livingston [?], 
step mother to these children, said she would not 
believe, and as far as we learn never did.—Eve went 
to a protestant meeting once, after becoming a Cath¬ 
olic. Whilst she was there, she shed tears, seeing so 
many go astray, not knowing anything of the Cath¬ 
olic Church. The Voice said “ She had committed a 
great sin, as the people thought she was affected by 
what she heard, they did not know her thoughts,” and 
forbade her going again. W 

There was once a messenger sent to Richard Mc- 
Sherry, for a Priest to go and see a sick woman. 
The Priest’s horse was kept in a little field near 
the house, called the “ Spring Pasture,” and the 
horse was sent for at once ; but it could not be 

1) The general purport of the Voice’s utterances bespeak and 
represent the Spirit of Light, most undoubtedly. 




64 


WIZARD CLIP. 


found, though it had been seen there grazing a few 
moments before. Mr McS., then, sent for one of his 
horses, the which detained the Priest for sometime. 
No sooner had the Priest started on his errand, 
when his own horse (‘ Old Bull ’ was its name) was 
seen in the pasture, on the hill side, neighing, and had 
not been out of the pasture. For the Yoice said 
“ the horse was there, but made invisible, because the 
woman had put off her conversion till the last mo¬ 
ment,” and surely she had died before the Priest 
reached the house. 

Mrs McSherry had the happiness of knowing her 
parents were in heaven from the Yoice.— 

The Yoice told Mrs L., that many would not be¬ 
lieve these things—some priests among the rest, who 
would laugh, and believe not,—and when He [the 
Yoice of the Spirit] saw that, He should cease speak¬ 
ing, and not try to convince them. 

When Mr L. left Yirginia for Pennsylvania, he 
left 70 acres of land, and a small house on it, for 
church purposes, and the Yoice said, u that before the 
end of time, that place would be a Great Place of 
Prayer and Praise.” 

In August 1804 Bichard McSherry had a severe 
spell of sickness, his life being despaired of: he had 
had some unpleasant difference with the priest Bev. 


WIZARD CLIR. 


65 


Mr Caliill, on account of which he had not been to 
confession for some time. The Voice told Mr Liv¬ 
ingston to go to Mr McSherry and his helpmate, and 
tell them, that “ Mr McS. should humble himself, and 
go to confession, and touch Christ through the 
church, and he would be cured.” Mr McS. obeyed 
on the spot, and sent for the priest, who came in the 
night, when Mr McS. was not expected to live till 
morning. He made his confession, received Holy 
Communion, and made his thanksgiving, after which 
he enjoyed a sweet sleep, was up in the morning 
before any one else of the family, in his wonted 
strength, tho’ pale and emaciated. He frightened 
some in the household greatly, who, not knowdng of 
the promise made by the Voice, thought him a 
walking ghost. 

Once, some children were playing in Mr Living¬ 
ston’s yard, when some gentlemen dressed in black 
passed by, and the children ran in to tell the family 
that Priests were coming. The Voice [then] spoke 
of the simplicity of the children, and said “ those 
passers-by were ministers of the D . . . 1, and their 
hearts were blackcrs, than their coats,”—they were 
p*******s. 

Often did the Voice speak of the troubles 
that were hanging over the world, and told Mr L» 



06 


WIZARD CLIP. 


to tell Mrs McS. “ she would not live to see it, but- 
her children would —War Pestilence and Famine .” 

Mrs McS. asked Mr L. to enquire of the Voice 
where the soul of her former Confessor was, who 
had been dead seventeen years. He was a very holy 
man, and she expected to hear he had been crowned 
immediately after judgment. Mr L. did so: the 
Voice replied, “ Father F. was still detained (1 ) in the 
scorching flames of Purgatory, on account of some 
carelessness in the management of some property of 
Orphans he had charge of: he trusted it to somebody 
else, and did not see to it that it was properly 
attended to.” 

One night, in a hard rain, a stranger came to Mr 
McSherry’s, and asked for a night’s lodging. ’Twas 
most convenient for Mrs McS. to put him in the 
room where the Priest usually slept, and where the 

1) Could it be the ven. Ferdinand Farmer ? Terrible exam¬ 
ple especialty for administrators of orphans’ estates!! In 1875 
I was favored by II. G. Archbishop Williams of Boston with a 
copy of “A Funeral Sermon on the death of the Kev. Ferdinand 
Farmer who departed this Life the 17th Aug. 1786, in the 66th 
year of his age. By the Kev. Robert Molineux. Philadelphia : 
C. Talbot, in Front street, 1786.” I had seventy-five copies re¬ 
printed for private circulation. Probably the copy was unique . 
It was intended for a first re-print of old American Books. 
But lack of sympathy made me abandon the undertaking. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


67 


church vestments, &c., were kept. They both knew 
him to he a Methodist Preacher. After retiring, Mr 
and Mrs McS. heard some one walking briskly about 
in that room, somewhat like the foot fall of one 
heavily booted. They were both kept awake the 
whole night, and were much disturbed. In the 
morning they asked the stranger whether he had not 
been sick during the night; but he replied, no, he 
had slept very ’well. Mr. Livingston meantime came, 
and told them they had had an unpleasant night, 
being kept awake: the Voice had told him to tell 
them, “ God had permitted them to be disturbed to 
punish them for harboring him [in a place where 
sacred things were kept]—a minister of the D-1.” 

Mr L. wished to warn some persons about their 
way of living, but the Voice said, “No: they are 
like Dives, if they will not hear the church, they will 
not hear a Voice from the Dead.” 

Mrs McSherry was frightened one day by hearing 
the cradle rock violently, having in it her infant son 
William whilst no one was near it; she called her 
husband to witness the fact, and started to run to it, 
fearing lest her child should be thrown out against 
the wall, but he would not allow her, saying “ God 
is more powerful than the devil ”—and the infant 


1) V. supra. 



68 


WIZARD CLir. 


was not hurt. And Mr L. told those parents the 
Voice had told him to tell them “It was the Devil 
who was trying to destroy the Child, knowing lie 
would be one day his enemy.’ This infant was since 
Fr. William McSherry, Provincial of the Jesuits (1) 

One night Mr L. and his daughter Charlotte were 
sitting together, and the Voice spoke from a bright 
light in the corner of the room and told Charlotte 

that the D-1 had deep designs on her all day, and 

would have succeeded, had she not held the infant 
of her visitor in her arms all day, “ the innocence of 
the babe had protected her,” said the Voice. 

Mr L. had a son, Henry, twenty one years of age; 
on the eve of harvesting, his father said to him “ to 
lead the field in reaping,” to which the son said— 
he would not: for he was of age, unless his father 
paid him harvest wages.—Henry was very soon after 

1) William McSherry was one of that noble band of young 
Jesuits who in 1821 went to Rome to attend Lectures at the 
Roman College, at Gregorian University. With him were 
Revs T. Mulledy, J. Ryder, E. Young, G. Fenwick, and Con¬ 
stantine Pise, all illustrious names in the history of the Ameri¬ 
can church. Dr. Ryder, the American Chrysostom, a confiden¬ 
tial friend of Pius the Great whilst Archbishop of Spoleto. 
Dr. Pise the father and founder of American Catholic Literature, 
himself a graceful poet, eloquent orator, controversialist, histo¬ 
rian and journalist. 





WIZARD CLIP. 


09 


taken with a pain on liis knee, and suffered greatly, 
being confined to his bed for 18 months: the pain 
turned into white swelling, but after suffering that 
length of time, the Yoice said “he had satisfied the 
Justice of God for his disobedience and disrespect 
to his father.” 

Eve Livingston was truly pious and industrious. 
After her death, the Yoice said “her soul did not 
even pass through Purgatory.”—She spent much of 
her time with Mrs McSherry. Mrs. Livingston, the 
step-mother of those children, was very prejudiced* 
and remained so. Once on a Thursday having meat 
soup for dinner, some was left. She said she was 
determined to deceive them and give it to them on 
Friday for dinner: she placed it in the cellar and kept 
the key in her pocket. But, when on the Friday she 
went for it, she found the crock in which she had 
poured the soup, perfectly clean, filled with clear 
water, just as much water as she had put soup in it. 
The Yoice said “ it did it, and it was more proper to 
take water, than to violate the rules of the church.” 
Mrs Livingston herself told Mrs McSherry the whole 
occurrence.—She also stated, that the Yoice had 
said, “ if she would not submit to the rules of the 
Roman Catholic Church, she would open her eyes 
in hell.” 


70 


WIZARD CLII\ 


Mrs McSherry often spoke of her visits to Mr Liv¬ 
ingston’s house. Once, when Mr and Mrs McS. were 
walking to Mr L’s, the gates were all opened for 
them to pass through, without any one being near: 
the Voice said a Mrsi Mary Spalding had opened 
them.” 

One night a piercing shriek was heard that roused 
the whole family, and the words “ help! help! ” were 
distinctly heard. Asked what help was needed, a 
TTrice answered, “ Prayers! ” for they were in excru¬ 
ciating torments—hand them something, and they 
would be convinced; a short gown was held up at 
the place whence the Voice came, and a whole human 
hand was burnt out on it, leaving the place betwixt 
the fingers not scorched. The family saw the fire 
and the hand. 

At another time, a like shriek was heard, and “help” 
sought as before. A shirt of Mr L. was handed, when 
a Cross with I H S was cleanly burnt on it. The 
sufferer said “ her name was Catharine Gookman,” a 
relation of Mr L.—Mrs McS. saw the burnt articles, 
and was under the impression they had been taken 
to the church of Conewago (1) . Some dresses were cut, 
she saw them; they were cut in small half moons, in 


1) V. Supra. 




WIZARD CLIP. 


71 


straight rows, as tho’ by machinery—cut close to¬ 
gether—without even space that one button could 
cover left—cut, all over. 

Mr L’s family were directed to keep the usual Fast 
of Lent ordered by the church, and every night they 
assembled in prayer, [they were ordered] to pray 
until it [the Yoice] answered Amen or Deo Gratias. 
They were also made to keep an extra Lent in 
thanksgiving for the true faith, and to pray as before. 

Mr L. walked to Conewago and back. The Yoice 
said “ it had been with him the whole way.” 

Three of Mr McSherry’s daughters were one day 
trying, or rather fitting on some new dresses, and 
one of them thought one of them very becoming. 
Whilst they were all admiring the dresses, the mirror 
before which they were standing was shattered into 
hundreds of small pieces, not one large enough for a 
small shaving glass. 

I have the Mass Missal (1) , the Priests used in say- 

i) MISSA.LE [ EOMANUM | ex decreto Sacro sancti con- 
ciliis | Tridentini restitutum | Pn Y. Pont. Max. iussu edi- 
tum, | et ] Clementis YIII. primum, nunc denuo ] Urbani 
Pap^ YIII. auctoritato recognitum. J 
Antuerpije, 

Ex Officina Plantiniana 
Balthassaris Moreti. 

M. DC. LYII. 


! fcSl 




72 


WIZARD CLIP. 


ing Mass at Grand Pa’s, and when you order the pho¬ 
tographs to be taken, I will set the crucifix over it. 
’Tis very old and venerable; just think of all those 
holy Priests using it—Fathers Gallitzin, Mallawey (1) 
and Cahill! _ H. S. 

5. Martinsburg, Va., May 2, ’72. 

Dev. Dear Father: 

. . . Indeed I am glad you were pleased with 

the photos.; the dark one I think is the best. (2) Uncle 

1) About Fathers Cahill and Maleve : 

Loyola College, Baltimore, Md., May 6, 1878. 
Rev'd and Dear F. 

Yours of April, 27th ult. I can find no mention of the Bev. Mr. 
Cahill in our books at any date from the beginning of the Mission. 

F. Francis Maleve, SJ., arrived in this country sometime in 
1806, was stationed for a time in Georgetown College, whence 
he was sent to Newtown, S. Mary’s Count} 7 , which he left in 
1809, for what destination no record. In 181^ he was sent to 
Frederick City, and partly alone and partly with another Father, 
attended that and the neighboring Missions. My impression is 
that he succeeded F. Rantzau. He died in 1822, October 3, and 
was buried just behind the Sacristy of the old Church. He was 
succeeded by F. McElroy. F. Maleve was a great sufferer in 
his latter years from consumption. 

In union with your Holy Sacrifices and prayers, 

Yours affectionately in Dno, 

James A. Ward, S.J., Soc. 

2) Here our fair and noble correspondent makes allusions to 
the objections raised in one of the previous letters. I wish it 
were in my power to transcribe the reasons, very conclusive rea- 




WIZARD CLIP. 


\ 


Richard, the oldest of the family, made no objection 
when my mother sent the Record to the clergyman 
who published it in the Catholic Mirror: if objection 
was to be made, then was the time. I am sure you 
think so too. . . . 


Pray for your child 
in Christ 


H. S. 


6. Martinsburg, May, 1st, 1872. 

Dear Father: 

I send to-day the Photograph, after having seven 

taken this was the best I think.If you 

get a magnifying glass, you can read the heading of 
the Mass in the Book. The Crucifix is bronze, on 

brown wood, and does not show to advantage. 

I do not know whether my mother furnished the 

sons, why no attention should be paid to the objections. The 
readers will agree with me, that from all that has been written, 
and from the sentiment of all (except that one solitary case) in¬ 
terested in the matter (some of whom are not mentioned in this 
my rhapsody), even to one of the worthy publishers of my book¬ 
let—I say the readers will agree that not the least breach of 
propriety or lack of consideration can be charged against my 
performance. Therefore, I am happy, that I have at last 
gained the opportunity, by the ready compliance of Messrs. 
Kelly, Piet & Co., to publish the result of my researches, imper¬ 
fect as the work maj 7 be considered. 

7 






74 


WIZARD CLIP. 


records to Father L. Obermeyer, but I know slie (1) 
sent the records to whoever it was who had them 
published in the Mirror. She wrote me to that 
effect, regretting I could not see them, as I was 
so far, and no facilities of mails. . . . 

I am very anxious to see the book. We are very 
sorry to hear of your ill health : ... if the 

prayers of little innocent children will avail, you will 
soon be well: my little ones pray for you. . . . 

Pray for us all. 

Yours in Christ 

H- S-. 

P. S. I would rather not have even my initials, 
but use your own judgment .... 

Yours in Christ 
_ H. S- 

7. Martinsburg, Ascension Day, ’72. 

[May 9.] 

Rev. Dear Father: 

. . . The Missal was the only one in this Mis¬ 

sion for a long time, and has been a companion on 

1) The statement drawn up by Eev. Louis Obermeyer, to which 
reference has been made several times, and published in the 
Catholic Mirror , of Baltimore, will be found below. The state¬ 
ment may not offer new information : but the assent of the gen¬ 
tleman who wrote will add weight to the proofs already given 
in these pages. 







WIZARD CLIP. 


75 


the travels of all those holy Missionaries. It was 
sent to my grandfather by his brother in Ireland, 
with a New Testament with notes, almost as old. 

• . x . If you have a magnifying glass you can 

read, in the photograph, the beginning of the Mass, 
and the engraving representing the Angel’s visit to 
Our Lady, though the page is time worn and stained. 

I remain your sincere child 

_ H. S. 

8. Martinsburg, Augt 9. 

Rev. Dear F. 

.. I am positively certain, that 

Mrs Susan Piet took the red flannel waist coat 
to the Barrens, and gave it to the Sisters (what 
Sisters I do not know), (1) 2 only it was at the Barrens, 
Perry Co., Missouri; where two of the daughters 
were at school. Mrs Piet is dead: her husband 
is living in Baltimore, a very worthy old gentle¬ 
man. ^ 

Pray for your child H- S. 

The mention of the “ Daughters of Our Lady of 
Sorrow ” towards the close of Letter No. 2. under 
heading of XIII, suggested my writing to those Sis- 

1) Sisters of Loretto. 

2) Letter No. XV explains this matter. 





76 


WIZARD CLIP. 


ters. Here I subjoin two letters, one from the Sisters, 
and another from a very respectable gentleman in 
Baltimore, both of which throw a great light on our 
subject, and are admirable proof of the existence of 
the doings of the Clip. 


XIV. St. Vincent’s Academy 

Cape Girardeau, Mo. 

Sept. 8, 1872. 

Rev .-- Esteemed Father , 

The letter you wrote to F. McC., C. M., Barrens, 
Mo. was sent to me by his successor. I presume it 
was because we bear the title mentioned in your let¬ 
ter. Our title, as a religious body, is “ Sisters of 
Loretto,” or c ‘ Friends of Mary at the Foot of the 
Cross.” We had a branch house in the Barrens 
about the time you mention, and there are two old 
sisters in this house that lived there and taught two 
daughters of Mrs Piet, sister of the priest, Bev. 
McSherry. I read your letter to them. They remem¬ 
ber Mrs Piet and two daughters very well, but for 
any particular about the articles cut by mysterious 
hands they know nothing. One of the daughters 
joined the Visitation Order, and is at present at 



WIZARD CLIP. 


77 


the Visitation convent in Baltimore: her name 
was Margaret Caroline Piet; hut in Keligion I 
have not learned her name (1) . Hoping, etc. 

I am with respect 

Sr Mary Catharine, Sup. 

Having reached so far in my work; several long 
spells of sickness, an increase of duties above my 
strength, taxing all my time, even to leisure 
hours, the refusal of publishers to take hold of my 
MSS unless I paid in advance, to me a thing not pos- 
sible, consigned my bantling to a forced obscurity, 
until the Messrs Kelly, Piet & Co, readily and cour¬ 
teously, with flattering terms, bade me awake to it, 
and here having licked it into a more presentable 
form ( 1 2) , meo beneprecatus libello , I trust it into their 
friendly hands. 

Yet my task is far from being accomplished, and 
the kind reader will please to wade with me through 
more waters. 

Thus, having laid Letter XIY before J ohn B. Piet, 
Esq., of my publishing firm, he favored me at once 
with the following interesting comment: 

1) Sister Mary Samuel. 

2) Ursus fertur dictus, quod ore suo formet fetus, quasi orsus. 
Isidor. Or, jtii, 2, 

7 * 




78 


WIZARD CLIP. 


XV. Baltimore, May 11, 1878. 

Dear Sir ,.When my father and 

mother left the McSherry farm, in September, 1810, 
and went to the Barrens, JPerryville, Perry Co., Mo., 
they took with them an old red flannel or worsted 
vest, that was cut all over in the shape of half moons, 
said to have been done at the house of Mr. Livings¬ 
ton by the Evil [?] Spirit. When w T e returned to 
Virginia in 1811 (April), my mother gave the old 
vest to the Sisters of the Visitation who were then 
residing and had an academy at Kaskaskia, (1) in Illi¬ 
nois.—They were driven out of Kaskaskia by the 
great flood of 1811; and my two sisters, wdio were 
then at Kaskaskia, as scholars, went with the Sisters 
to St. Louis. I have always understood that the 

1) For a detailed and intefesting history of that, one of the 
earliest Catholic institutions at the West, see a learned lecture 
by the Rev. D. T. Doherty, of Kirkwood, Mo. It was delivered 
. before the Mo. Hist. Soc’y of St. Louis, in the spring (?) of 1877, 
and reported in full in the St. Louis papers, and especially, inilie 
short-lived Sunday Messenger , whereof Mr. D. was the founder, 
and for several months the very able editor. Some members of 
the remarkable Barber family belonged to that Convent. The 
closing genealogy of that family is very interesting: 

Grandfather Daniel in Minor Orders : his son Virgil , a learned 
priest of the Company of Jesus: Virgil's son, Samuel , a Jesuit 
Professed Father; his wife and three (?) of his daughters, Sisters 
Visitation B. V. M. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


79 


vest was lost in that removal, or intentionally thrown 
away by the Sisters W. I have seen the old vest and 
handled it often [reader, please note this]. This is 
about all I can say of what I know about the matter. 
I have often heard my mother say that the Jesuits at 
McSherrystown [Conewago], Pa., had some of the 
clothes 1 (2) 3 and other relics of the Clip affair; and my 
impression is that she got the old vest from them 
My father died here (4) April, 1S75. . . . 

Respectfully yours, 

_ John B. Piet. 

XVI. The following short note may discover 
another source of information, the more so that I 
have reason to believe that the Rev. Messieurs of St. 

1) I feel somewhat confident that this collection of documents 
will invite communications: unless my labors will be allowed to 
die away unheeded, in that general apathy under which every 
effort made to preserve records of Catholic history in the U. S. 
seems doomed to perish. For my part, after the booklet shall 
have put in its appearance before the public, I intend to pursue 
my researches. Some information may yet be gained from those 
ladies, or their friends. 

2) Y. Yen. Fr. Ender’s Letter, No. Yl. 

3) Not so, but most probably from the McSherrys, if not 
from the Livingstons. 

4) Often was I prompted to consult the venerable old gentle¬ 
man (d. act. 84), and severely did I reproach myself for my neg¬ 
lect at the news of his death. 




80 


WIZARD CLIP. 


Sulpice are very exact in keeping records. If tlie 
Rev. Messire Wheeler has gone to his reward, proba¬ 
bly he has left a diary. Rt. Rev. Dr. Healy in¬ 
formed me that Rev. Dr. Deluol had taken with him 
to Paris many volumes of a MSS diary (what a mine 
of information it must needs be!); and the late 
lamented Dr. Dubreuil, when in his last visit to 
France, earnestly begged for it, at my suggestion, as 
property de jure belonging to St. Sulpice of Balti¬ 
more, but the Rev. Librarian of their house in Paris 
put him otf, it seemed for a purpose, until the gentle¬ 
man had to leave without it. Perhaps some one else 
more lucky may meet with better success, at least 
may be allowed to examine the precious pages, and 
make transcripts of what would add to our informa¬ 
tion in subjecta materia. Rev. Dr. Deluol came to 
this country in Sept., 1817, and left in Nov., 1819. 

. Too great a pressure of duties prevented the 
writer of the letter from fulfilling his wish. 

Boston Jan. 2, 1872. 

Rev. and Dear Sir, 

1 will endeavor to write out some days hence what 
I heard of Wizard Clip, and perhaps it may save 
some labor, if I should repeat what I heard as related 
by Rev. Mr. Wheeler, an old Sulpician. . . . 

Yours in Xt 


James A. Healy. 


WIZARD CLIP. 


81 


XYII. Rev. and Dear Sir 

. Young children could see the author 

of the voice ; older people could not. So said the 
informant of 

Yours truly 

James A. Healy. 



















































































































c. 


I. VALUE SET ON THE MANIFESTATIONS OF MIDDLEWAY 

BY THE PRINCE REV. DEMETRIUS GALLITZIN. 

II. THE PRINCE MISSIONARY PREFACES SOME HISTORICAL 

NOTES TO 

III. THE LETTERS FROM ANASTASIA MCHENRY TO HER 

BROTHER SAMUEL LILLY, ESQ. 


I. 


HE following transcript from one of Rev. 
Demetrius Gallitzin’s works W is of great 
weight to prove the reality of the Wizard 
Clip. It shows the full belief and import¬ 
ance which the great missionary of the Allegheny 
attached to those manifestations . Yet he was a 



(1) 11 A Letter to a Protestant Friend , on the. Holy Scrip¬ 
tures ; or, The Written Word of God: being a continuation 
of the ‘Defence of Catholic Principles,’ in opposition to the 
‘ Vindication of the Doctrines of the Reformation.’ By De¬ 
metrius A. Gallitzin. Ebensburg : Thomas Foley, 1820.” pp. 
xxiv and 150, 16mo. 

The work has gone through several reprints, to our own day. 
Our extract is from pp. 144, seqq. 

As no edition was published previous to 1820 (at least none, 
that I know, after careful research) we may infer from the 
beginning of the second paragraph that Livingston was still 
living at the date of printing the Letter (A. D. 1820.) 








84 


WIZARD CLIP. 


cautious man and very reserved in his opinions, 
rendered the more so by the fact that he lived in 
medio generaiionis jpravae. He was surrounded by 
a community exceedingly bigoted, whereof the relig¬ 
ious leaders watched every opportunity that might 
be available in ensnaring the good priest, either in 
doing something or speaking some words that would 
give a handle for disputations or ridicule. How, it 
is a fact that, altho’ the prince’s book was made the 
source of much controversy, often very bitter, his 
opponents never dared to deny or impugn the exist¬ 
ence of the Wizard of Middle way. In fact, that 
existence is adduced by the great Catholic contro¬ 
versialist as an instance or a proof of the supernatu¬ 
ral power existing in the church. Quidplum? 

Having commented on some assertions of the 
minister who had taken upon himself to demolish 
the arguments laid down by Rev. Mr. Gallitzin in 
the proper interpretation of the Scriptures, he con¬ 
tinues: “You know my friend, from your minister’s 
‘ Vindication ’ what powers he has not. It would 
be worth your while to go to him and to ask him what 
power he has ? I cannot imagine what his answer 
would be; for after having discarded all the different 
powers essentially necessary to enable the ministry 
of Christ to be of service to their flock, 1 do not see 


WIZARD CLII\ 


85 


any power left for him to claim, but a power that 
any lay person may claim as well, viz., the power of 
saying some prayers, and the power of reading a text 
of Scripture, and putting on it some sort of construc¬ 
tion, either true or false, which even Satan is able 
to do. (Mat. iv. 6.) 

66 1 am acquainted with a very respectable man, 
formerly a Protestant, whom this acknowledged 
want of power in his minister caused to forsake the 
pretended Reformation and, with his whole family, 
to embrace the Catholic Faith. For a considerable 
length of time he was persecuted and his property 
destroyed by the agency of evil spirits; the clothes 
belonging to him and his family were seen (by invisi¬ 
ble hands) a cutting to pieces, stones were seen 
moving across the room (held by invisible hands), 
fire bursted repeatedly from out of their beds at 
broad day light, strange and frightful apparitions, 
and strange noises terrified them very often at night. 

“ The good old man reading in his Eible that 
Christ had given to his ministers power over evil 
spirits, started from home to Winchester in Virginia, 
and having, with tears in his eyes, related to his 

minister (parson S-1) the history of his distress, 

losses, and sufferings, begged of him to come to his 
house, and to exercise in his favor the power he had 


86 


WIZARD CLIP. 


received from Jesus Christ. The parson candidly 
confessed that he had no such power. The good old 
man insisted that he must have that power, for he 
found it in his Bible. The parson replied, that that 
power existed only in old times, but was done away 
now (see “ Vindication ” p. 125, lines 1—15). The 
old man, although living in this Enlightened Age, 
had not sagacity enough to understand the distinc¬ 
tion between old times and new times, but according 
to your minister's rule, believed nothing but what he 
found contained in his Bible. He therefore ration¬ 
ally concluded that parson S-t could not be a 

minister of Christ; and having left him, he applied 
to other persons calling themselves ministers of 
Christ, some of whom promised relief. They came, 
prayed, and read; but they prayed, and read in vain, 
finally, the old man, having (through the means of a 
respectable Catholic neighbor) obtained the assistance 
of a real minister of Christ, found the relief for 
which he had prayed so fervently; and soon after 
became a most edifying member of the Catholic 
Church. 

“ Your minister would laugh very heartily if you 
should relate to him the above facts; for with the 
wise men of this enlightened age , he has peremptorily 
decided that miracles, etc., etc., are no longer neces- 



WIZARD CLIP. 


87 


sary, and of course have ceased,—since when I did 
not learn; nor did I ever find any passage in Scripture, 
which authorizes the belief that miracles should ever 
cease altogether, or that Evil Spirits should never 
have it any more in their power to molest the bodies, 
and the property of men, as they used to do during 
the lifetime of our Saviour, and after His-Resurrec¬ 
tion (Acts. V, vi). 

“ Thousands of the most respectable, the most 
learned, the most holy of our Missionaries, in all the 
different parts of the globe, met with numberless 
instances of the kind, especially among infidels, and 
had as many opportunities of exercising in their 
favor the power which JESUS CHRIST granted 
his apostles over Evil Spirits (Matth. x, i), which 
power lias descended to their successors.” 


The missionary Prince was born Dec. 22d, 1770. 
The following dateless Letter was perhaps written 
towards the close of the year 1838. 

II. 

Rev. D. A., with some remarks conveying his 
belief in the “ Wizard Clip ”, prefaces Mrs. Anastasia 
McSherry’s account: 



88 


WIZARD CLIP. 


1. To Mrs. Catherine C. Doll. 

My very dear , and much respected child: 

In obedience to your request, I send you copies of 
the two letters written by your dear mother, to your 
uncle Samuel Lilly, I think, in November 1796, or 
? 97.. If I may judge by my own feelings, I think 
you will be strongly affected by the reading of 
them.—O ! how happy would I be, if I could go and 
see you, but my age (nearly 69), and my pecuniary 
embarrassments forbid. 

Mr. Livingston removed from Virginia to Bedford 
county, Pennsylvania, about twenty miles from here 
[Loretto, Cambria Co.], where he died in the spring 
of 1820. I had Mass at his house repeatedly. He 
continued, to the last, very attentive to his duties, 
but did not receive the rites of the Church in his last 
sickness, which carried him off too quick to afford 
any chance of sending for a priest. His children are 
all scattered away, and I believe care very little for 
the Church. 

I have a great number of your near relatives in my 
congregation, principally children and grand-children 
of Joseph Lilly, deceased, and your mother’s brother; 
and I am sure if you could take the journey to this 
place, you would find yourself quite at home ; and, 


WIZARD CLIP. 


89 


wliat would surprise you, in a Catholic country with¬ 
out any mixture of Protestants. Now, I have an¬ 
swered all your enquiries; I therefore conclude with 
assurances of the great respect and affection with 
which I remain, my very dear child and friend, 

Your most humble servant & friend, 

Demetrius Aug. Gallitzin. 


2. Loretto, Cambria Co., April 11, 1839. d> 
My Very Dear Child and Dr lend : 

O ! what pleasing recollections you recall to my 
memory ! The happy days I spent in the family of 
Richard McSherry, and his dear helpmate , as the 
Voice 1 (2) at Mr. Livingston’s used to call her. Yes, 
my dearest child, in 1797, I think in September, I 
became acquainted with your dear parents, and very 
soon a most intimate friendship was formed—I re¬ 
mained in that part of the country, spending all my 

1) This second letter is copied also in the Appendix to A Me* 

moir ... of the Rev. Prince D. A. de Gallitzin . . . 

by Rev. Dr. Hayden (v. supra , p. 48), of Bedford, Pa. Balt. ; 
J. Murphy, 18G9—a very meagre production. The above letter 
is shorn of its last paragraph, instead of which, two paragraphs 
of the previous one have been dovetailed into it, 

2) Y. Supra H. S.’s Letter, 

8 * 




90 


WIZARD CLIP. 


time either at their home or at Livingston’s 0) from 
September until near Christmas, when I had to re¬ 
turn to Conewago, then the place of my residence. 
My view in coming to Virginia, and remaining there 
three months, was to investigate those extraordinary 
facts at Livingston’s, of which I had heard so much 
at Conewago, and which I could not prevail upon my¬ 
self to believe ; but I was soon converted to a full 
belief of them. No lawyer in a court of justice did 

ever examine or cross examine witnesses more strictlv 

*/ 

than I did all those I could procure. I spent several 
days in penning down the whole account, which, on 
my return to Conewago, was read with great interest 
and handed about from one to another, till at last 
(when I wanted it back) it could not be found. In 
short, it was lost; and I have, unfortunately, neg¬ 
lected to take a copy of it, and now, after a lapse of 
42 years, you can hardly expect that I could bring 

1) We copy from A Memoih, p. 198. Note : “ A stream of 
water running near the former residence of the Livingstons is 
called to this day ‘Clip Creek,’ on account o? . . . Some of 
the clipped blankets, or pieces of them, were kept, and shown at 
Conewago for a long time.” 

j“ The Prince was by no means credulous. He was gifted 
with rare acumen. And, like all enlightened converts, came 
over to the Catholic Church only after the profoundest convict 
tion, as his great sacrifices show.” P. 199. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


91 


back to memory the whole well connected history of 
those surprising occurrences. I only remember de¬ 
tached facts, some of which may prove interesting to 
you. The first beginning of the business.was a great 
destruction of property by clipping, burning, and re¬ 
moving, all done by invisible hands. After trying 
ministers in vain, old Mr. L. applied to a conjurer in 
the South Mountains, who promised to banish the 
evil spirit, if he, Livingston, would pay him a certain 
sum of money on the spot. L. very wisely refused 
paying him any thing beforehand, but promised him 
double the amount if he would perform the job! 
The conjurer would not agree. Poor L. went home 
much dejected in consequence of so many disappoint¬ 
ments; and almost came to the conclusion that 
Christ had no longer any true ministers on earth, 
and that those who pretended to be such were a set 
of impostors. He was* determined, henceforward, 
never to apply to any one of them calling themselves 
ministers of Christ. A Roman Catholic pedlar who 
happened to be one night at Livingston’s, and who 
was much disturbed by the noise, which prevailed 
almost the whole night in the house, tried to per¬ 
suade Livingston to send for a Roman Catholic 
priest, but Livingston answered quickly that he had 
tried so many of those fellows, he was not going to 


92 


WIZARD CLIP. 


try any more of them. Your worthy father, Richard 
McSherry, was the one who overcame Livingston’s 
obstinacy, so far as to permit him to bring a priest to 
his (Ljyingston’s) house. With a good deal of ado, Mr. 
McSherry prevailed upon the Rev. Dennis Cahill to 
attend at Livingston’s. During his first visit, Mr. 
Cahill only said some prayers, and sprinkled the 
house with holy water. On his going away, having 
already one foot on the door sill, and the other in¬ 
side yet, suddenly a sum of money which had disap¬ 
peared from out the old man’s chest was by invisible 
hands laid on the door sill, between the priest’s feet; 
moreover, the house became quiet for several days. 
After awhile, the noise and destruction beginning 
again, Rev. Mr. Cahill paid them a second visit, 
celebrated Mass in the house, instructed them, took 
them into the church, and finally the work of de¬ 
struction ceased. 

Being one day at a tea-party in Martinsburg, an 
old Presbyterian lady, who was of the party, told 
the company that, having heard of the clipping that 
was going on at Livingston’s, to satisfy her curiosity, 
she went to Livingston’s house. However, before 
entering, she took her new black silk cap off her 
head, wrapped it up in her silk handkerchief, and put 
it in her pocket, to save it from being dipt. After 


WIZARD CLIP. 


93 


a while she stept out again, to go home, and having 
drawn the handkerchief out of her pocket and opened 
it, she found her cap cut up into narrow ribbons W. 

If any more circumstances should come to my rec¬ 
ollection, I shall communicate them to you, hereafter. 

I am in possession of two letters which your pious 
mother wrote to one of her brothers, I think to 
Samuel Lilly, and which contain some very interest¬ 
ing facts and advice, communicated .by Livingston to 
your mother, at the command of the Voice. How¬ 
ever, I have no doubt but the originals must have 
been carefully preserved among your family records, 
and must be familiar to you. If not, let me know, 
and you shall have a copy. 

I remain respectfully and affectionately, my very 
dear child 

Your very humble servant & friend, 

Demetrius A. Gallitzin. 


III. 

Letters of Anastatia, consort of Eichard McSherry, 
to her brother Samuel Lilly Esq. 

1. Dear Brother: 

Scarcely had my sister, Mrs Head, got three miles 
from this house, when Mr Livingston came, thinking 

1) These two circumstances of narrator and sufferer add great 
weight to the testimony. 




94 


WIZARD CLIP. 


to find lier here : he said the Spirit was talking all 
the night—meaning the last she slept here. He says 
the first W was a most glittering light, sometimes 
in one corner of the house, and then in the other, and 
in an instant the whole house was in so shining a 
light that he declared he conld not look at it. It 
told him to go to Mr McSherry’s helpmate, and tell 
her to be steadfast in prayer, for the Voice said that 
her parents were in great hopes of going to rest 
soon. It also told him to tell me and all my family 
to throw away all pride and vanity, and humble our¬ 
selves even unto the earth, as though we were in 
sack-cloth and ashes. The Spirit says, ruffles and 
fringes, flounces and tuckers, and “modesty pieces” 1 (2) , 
are all inventions of Satan. It forbade to cut and 
curl the hair, saying that our Lord came meek and 
lowly, and how could we, sinful worms of the earth, 
deck and adorn our sinful bodies ?—Then, referring 
to what our Saviour suffered for us, and begging in 
the humblest manner to turn our hearts to the Lord, 
it told them that thousands were burning in hell for 
following the fashions of this world, that never, 
never, were to be relieved ; saying also that we never 
would have heard one word of this, only for our 


1) “Appearance,’' no doubt. 

2) A strip of lace worn formerly over the bosom. 



WIZAKD CLIP. 


95 


mother’s prayers, calling her “the widow Mary Lilly.” 
They say a plain hand and arm struck the old man 
Livingston on the arm, and vanished. 

Anastasia McSherry. 


2. Dear Brother: 

. . . . I heard no more of it, until the 3d of 

November. The second night of the same month, the " 
Spirit came with these sweet tidings: that on the 
12th hour, the 2d of November, an angel carried 
their (1) souls into Paradise, rejoicing with the holy 
angels before the throne of Mercy, saying “ Come 1 
ye blessed of my Father, and possess the kingdom 
prepared for you from the beginning of time! ” that 
their being so wmrldly was the very reason that they 
were so long in punishment! They very much 
lamented their children being so worldly and so full 
of worldly grandeur. Our poor brother John was 
very much lamented. The Yoice called him “my son,” 
saying that they sent him to the college to become 
a minister of Jesus Christ, and that he had become a 

i) Notwithstanding some hints in No. XIII, it is somewhat 
difficult to say for certain to whom this referred. Yet it 
seems to refer to the children, brothers of John, who died a 
sudden death. V. Supra. 




96 


WIZARD CLIP. 


blasphemer, saying that he did not believe in the 
Heal Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament— 
that the Church had not the power to forgive sins :— 
should he die in that unhappy state of mind, he 
would open his eyes in the raging flames below, 
among the damned: then our prayers and good works 
would be of no relief to him. The Yoice says our 
prayers can help him now , and that we should be as 
earnest for him as we were [had been ?] for our 
parents. It has commanded us to go on our knees 
to him, and say “ In the Name of the Father and of 
the Son and of the Holy Ghost, why will you not 
believe that there is a God, and that nothing is hard 
or impossible to Him, and that it is as easy for Him 
to give His precious Body and Blood as to give a 
cup of water,” etc., etc. 

Anastatia McSherry. 




D. 

SUNDRY ACCOUNTS OF THE WIZARD CLIP, CONTRIBUTED 
TO JOURNALS OF THE HIGHEST RESPECTABILITY BY 
MEN WHO IN THEIR VERY STYLE OF WRITING 
CONVEY THEIR UNQUALIFIED BELIEF IN THE HIS¬ 
TORY OF THE CLIP. 

I. Jedediali Vincent Huntington, formerly a 
Protestant Episcopal Minister, and latterly editor 
of The leader , St. Louis, Mo. 

II. Pev. Louis Obermeyer, Pastor St. Vincent’s 
Church, Baltimore, Md., latterly Professor in Mt. St. 
Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, Md., where lie died. 
His account appeared in The Catholic Mirror . 

III. Pev. Charles I. White, D.L>. late of St. Mat¬ 
thew’s Church, Washington, D. C. 

(It is remarkable how the different manner in 
which these writers narrate what transpired at the 
Clip conveys at once their unqualified belief, and 
ready assent.) 


9 






98 


WIZARD CLIP. 


I. 

E. J. Y. HUNTIHGTON’S is a name 
well known to literary men on both sides 
of the ocean. His works of fiction have 
been deservedly appreciated for their ele¬ 
gance of style and admirable portraiture of nature. 
He might be called the Alessandro Mansoni of 
the United States. But his name holds an honor¬ 
able place also among Journalists. For, besides 
editing for some time the Metropolitan , a Catholic 
monthly of great worth published in Baltimore, he 
started and edited The Leader, a very interesting 
Catholic weekly in quarto form, published in St. 
Louis during the years 1854, 5, and 6, in all, two 

l) Jedediah Vincent H. was born in New York, Jan. 20, 
1815, and died in Pau, in the South of France, March 10, 1862. 
He held a chair of philosophy in St. Paul’s College, near Flush¬ 
ing, L. I.—Ordained minister in the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, in 1841, he occupied the pulpit of one of their meeting¬ 
houses in Middleburg, Vt.—After a prolonged sojourn in Europe 
(1846-49), he became a sincere and devoted convert to the Cath¬ 
olic Church, in 1849.—Besides a volume of poetry (1842), which 
I have not seen, he published at different intervals several 
novels, to wit: Lady Alice(1849); Alban ; The Forest (1852); 
Bosemary (1860). His amiable and highly educated wife sur¬ 
vives him to this day. His brother Daniel, a painter of singular 
merit, was President of the National Academy of Design, 
elected in 1862. I think he is still living. 









WIZARD CLIP. 


99 


volumes, I believe. In No. 13, vol. II. Dec. 1, 1855, 
he makes allusion to a passage of his “Alban ” (a 
Tale of the New World. N. Y. C. P. Putnam, 
1851), in the following words:— 

“A good many persons probably have heard of the 
Ghost of Wizard Clip, in Virginia, whose operations, 
nearly sixty years ago, anticipated the Stratford 
spiritual manifestations, and the knockings that wait 
on the Misses Fox, of Rochester. In these days of 
Spiritualism, it will not be uninteresting to recur to 
this singular occurrence, a brief allusion to which is 
found in the writings of the Rev. Prince Gallitzin, 
the Pastor of the Alleghanies. We feel peculiarly 
bound to make public what we know on this extraor¬ 
dinary subject, on account of the attacks made by 
the literary press upon the novel of ‘ Alban ’ some 
years ago, on the score of the Fourth Book , in which 
we introduced some of the facts to which Prince 
Gallitzin testifies. The readers of 6 Alban ’ are 
aware that it describes in that portion a haunted 
house, and various diabolical performances therein, 
which were quieted by the exorcisms of a Catholic 
priest, but few are aware that these circumstances 
are all taken from real history. 

“ The House of Wizard Clip is at Cliptown, Vir¬ 
ginia, which is near Martinsburg. It is a substan- 


100 


WIZARD CLIP. 


tial, actual locality in this lower world, and particu¬ 
larly the Anglo-American part of it; it has a local 
legend as wild and supernatural as any that lingers 
around the old baronial halls of Ireland or Scotland. 
The owner of the dwelling at the time of the visita¬ 
tion, in the close of the last century, was named 
Livingston, and his near neighbor was a McSherry, 
ancestor of the distinguished family of that name in 
Maryland, and who was then already a Catholic. 

“ It is some years since numerous details of the 
affair were related to us by the Rev. Dr.-, Presi¬ 
dent of - College, and we are not sure that we 

recollect them perfectly. A few circumstances are 
imprinted deeply on our memory. One of these was 
the existence (at Conewago, we think), at a recent 
date, of a number of physical evidences of the 
reality of the clippings and other phenomena, at the 
house of Mr Livingston—such as a boot, which, as it 
stood upon the floor, seemed whole and entire, but 
lifted by the top, depended in a long spiral slip, a 
state to which it had been brought in an instant, when 
on the leg of the wearer, by invisible hands. An¬ 
other object was a lady’s shawl, bearing the imprint of 
a spectral hand, laid on her shoulder to convince her 
of the reality of the visitation. We remember that 

some circumstances were mentioned by Dr. -, 

which are not spoken of by Prince Gallitzin, such as 



WIZARD CLIP. 


101 


tlie chickens’ heads and legs dropping off at Wizard 
Clip during the visitation. Some one also related 
that an Episcopal Minister (as at Carmel in ‘Alban/) 
attempted an exorcism, and was famously abused by 
the scornful spirit, so that the prayer-book he used 
was found subsequently in one of the rooms, in a 
place which indicated no great respect for ‘ our ad¬ 
mirable liturgy ’ on the part of the ghost. It was 
also positively stated that after the exorcism, the 
Spirit used to call the family together, and say, 
6 Come, take your seats ’—and then would teach 
them the Roman Catechism, so that, when the priest 
afterwards came to admit them into the Church, he 
found them perfectly instructed, without a book or a 
living teacher, by the instruction of a Departed Soul, 
as it claimed to be. It is still the universal tradi¬ 
tion of the place, that the house at Wizard Clip was 
once haunted, and that the Ghost was laid by a 
Catholic priest (1) . 

“ The late Col. B. U. Campbell, so well known for 
his love of historical studies, as well as for his valu¬ 
able contributions to historical literature < 1 2) , was anx- 

1) Tradition is one of the main proofs of history. 

2) See his admirable papers contributed to the pages of The 
United States Catholic Magazine , Baltimore, 1844, Vol. iii, pp. 
662 et seqq., bearing on the Life and Times of Archbishop 
Carroll. 



102 


WIZARD CLIP. 


ions to obtain possession of sufficient facts connected 
with the Cliptown Ghost, to found a complete nar¬ 
rative : but he was not successful. He obtained, 
however, copies of certain Letters written long after 
by Prince Gallitzin, in which the affair is more fully 
spoken of than in his published (1) works, where it is 
only alluded to incidentally. These letters Col. 
Campbell was so kind as to place at our disposal, and 
we also have long hoped to obtain such additional 
information as would enable us to complete the his¬ 
tory of the affair; but having so far failed in that, 
at the request of our esteemed friend and contributor, 
Mr. De Courcy, we have concluded to publish the 
letters themselves as documents, hoping *that their 
appearance may induce others, who possess any in¬ 
formation on the subject, to communicate it, either 
to us or to him < 1 2) 3 . 

“ The following, then, are the letters given to us 
by Col. Campbell, together with the Letter of the 

1) The Letters are given supra in Division C. 

& Exactly the very motive that has prompted the collector 
and publisher of these documents. 

3) The letter alluded to is the following. The reverend gen¬ 
tleman who wrote it, brother to Rev. Timothy O’Brien, a pioneer 
priest of Richmond, Va., after many years of zealous work in 
Martinsburg, went to Lowell, Mass., where he built a grand 
granite church, opened schools, and passed to his eternal reward, 



WIZAKD CLIP. 


103 


gentleman from whom he, in his turn, obtained them. 
On the back of the Letters is written in Col. C’s 
handwriting— 

‘1844 

‘Account of the Cliptown, 

‘ or, Wizakd Clip Affair.’ ” 


II. 

Surely, according to all accepted rules of credibility 
we must at least feel disposed to believe in the exist¬ 
ence of facts to which assent has been given by men 
whose judgment and opinions have been held in uni¬ 
versal esteem. Such an one was the Rev. Louis Ober- 
meyer, Baltimore. He had heard of the occur¬ 
rences at Cliptown long, long ago. Then he obtained 
the narrative from Georgetown, to place persons and 

by a sudden death, on All Saints’ Eve, the year 1874. His 
brother and co-laborer in the same city died several years before 
him ! 

Martinsbcrg, Va., May 26, 1844. 

My Dear Sir —When 1 promised you these papers, I thought 
they were much more interesting than they are. I fear they 
will be of little or no use. I have learned from Dr. McSherry 
that a detailed account of the whole matter was at Georgetown 
College. I have been absent from home since my return, which 
will account for my apparent neglect* I am, my dear Sir, very 
respectfully, Your obedient and humble servant, 

John 0‘Brien* 


Bernard U. Campbell , Esq. 




104 


WIZARD CLIP. 


circumstances. With the Manuscript before him, and 
his own private knowledge of what had taken place, 
he weaves his simple and straightforward narrative. 

Here we present it to our reader, faithfully copied 
for this purpose by a courteous clerk attached to the 
House of Messsrs. Kelly, Piet & Co. 

Having reached so far with my copy, I learn that 
the reverend gentleman was at the time of his writing 
the history of Clip, chief editor of the Catholic Mirror. 
How, only men of superior abilities are chosen to fill 
such a post of .honor and trust, and a gentleman of Mr. 
Obermeyer’s character would not certainly jeopardize 
both his reputation and the standing of such a paper 
as the Catholic Mirror by laying before his readers 
a narrative of events in which he did not believe. 
Absurd ! 


“the cliptown spirit. 

“ Cliptown is situated in Jefferson Co., Virginia, 
near Martinsburg. About the close of the last cen¬ 
tury a certain Mr. Livingston occupied a house there 
and followed the business of farming. Preternatural 
occurrences at his house greatly alarmed him. Among 
other things garments of different kinds in the house 
or worn by visitors were clipped all over by some 
invisible hand into semi-circular figures an inch or 
two long, from which, the place wdiich had before 


WIZARD CLIP. 


105 


been known as Smithfield, took the name of Cliptown. 
In the Catholic Mirror of January 5th, 1S56, there 
is some account of this extraordinary affair, consist¬ 
ing of—1. A Statement by Dr. J. V. Huntington, 
then editor of the St. Louis Leader , of what he had 
heard from respectable sources; 2. Of two letters 

from Prince Gallitzin, who in 1797, whilst officiating 
as a missionary priest at Conawago and other places, 
visited Virginia and remained three months in the 
neighborhood of Cliptown for the purpose of inves¬ 
tigating this curious matter; 3. Of two letters from 

Mrs. Anastasia McSherry, a then living witness, to 
her brother Sami. Lilly, recounting some of the facts 
in the case. 

“ Since that time the following document has come 
under our notice, and was given to us for publication 
by the surviving relations of Mrs. McSherry. We 
feel confident all will take a deep interest in this 
narrative of an event which at the time of its occur¬ 
rence was the wonder of the day, though since that 
the satanic operations of Spiritism have somevdiat 
familiarized us with preternatural doings. 

“ STATEMENT 

Made by Mrs. Anastasia McSherry to her children 
at Retirement Farm, Jefferson Co., Virginia, respect¬ 
ing the strange things that happened to Mr. Living- 


106 


WIZARD CLIP. 


ston, and which was heard and written down by one 
of her daughters. 

“ This Mr. Livingston lived in Pennsylvania, was a 
Lutheran, an honest and industrious man, and had a 
handsome property. His property began to decrease 
in a variety of ways—his barn was burned, and his 
horses and cattle died. His losses' continuing, he 
left Pennsylvania and came to Smithfield, Jefferson 
Co., Virginia, where he had as much trouble, and 
more, as his horses and cattle died and his clothes 
were cut to pieces. They were frequently alarmed 
by noises in the house, like horses galloping around. 
Their clothes were burned, their money taken away, 
and a great variety of strange things happened, 
until they determined to get some one to come and 
lay the Devil. They tried conjurors, preachers, &c., 
to no purpose. At last Mr. L. had a dream; lie 
thought he was climbing a high mountain, had great 
difficulty to get up, had labored hard, by catching at 
roots and bushes. When he reached the top, lie saw 
a minister, in robes, as he termed it; and after look¬ 
ing at the minister for a minute, he heard a Voice 
say: ‘That is the man who can relieve you.’ His 
wife heard him groaning in his sleep, and called him. 
He then told her his dream, and said he did not 
know what kind of a minister it was, but that he 
would inquire. 


WIZARD CLIP. 


107 


“ Early in the morning he started off and traveled 
to Sheplierdstown. There he heard from some one 
that it was a Catholic Priest that he was looking for,- 
as they were the only ones that dressed that way. 
He was then directed to go to Mr. McSherry’s near 
Leetown, where he might find one. Late in the 
evening of the same day, Mrs. McSherry saw this 
man coming np to the house. She met him at the 
gate, and when he told her he wanted to see the 
priest, she said there was no priest at their house 
then, but there would be church in Shepherdstown 
the next Sunday, where he would see one. Mr. and 
Mrs. McSherry went to church on the next Sunday, 
and found Mr. Livingston there, and as soon as the 
priest came out to the altar, Mr. Livingston was so 
much overcome that he wept bitterly, and said: 

4 This is tl;e very man I saw in my dream—this is the 
one to relieve me.’ When Mass was over he went to 
talk to the priest, and told him his sad story. But 
the priest only laughed at him, and told him that it 
was his neighbors plaguing him, and that he must 
go home and watch for them. Mr. Bicliard McSherry 
and Mr. Minghini were present, and they were moved 
by the tears of the old man, which made them beg 
Mr. Cahill, the priest, to listen to his story and com¬ 
fort him. After a great deal of persuasion, Mr. 


108 


WIZARD CLIP. 


Cahill went to Mr. Livingston’s house, talked to them 
all, and found every one telling the same sad story. 
He then sprinkled the house with holy water. Before 
he left, a sum of money that had been taken away 
was lying in the door. After he had said Mass in 
the house, the work of destruction ceased. Mr. 
Cahill visited them often and received some of them 
in the Church, there being a good many of the chil¬ 
dren young. 

“ Mr. Livingston’s family frequently saw a brilliant 
light at night, and heard a Yoice speaking, which 
made them get up and pray. The voice would join 
in the prayers, and it would instruct them how to 
pray, by telling them that the Blessed Virgin had a 
great deal of power and would do a great deal for 
poor sinners, and that they must say: 4 Holy, Holy, 
Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us.’ Again the 
voice explained the Mass to them, and said that one 
Mass was more acceptable to Almighty God than if 
the whole world were in sackcloth and ashes—that 
it was a God offered to God. On one occasion, Mr. 
Livingston and family were all assembled in a room. 
They saw a man in the midst of them, and supposed 
him to be a beggar, as he was badly dressed and 
barefooted. The day being very cold and inclement, 
Mr. Livingston offered him a pair of shoes and some 


WIZARD CLIP. 


109 


clothes; but the man refused them, saying that he 
did not want them ; shoes were not worn where he 
came from. After staying some time talking and 
instructing them in Catholic doctrine he told them 
that Luther and Calvin were lost, and that every 
soul that was lost through their fault added to their 
sufferings. When he left the house, Mr. Livingston’s 
family thought they would see where he went, as 
they had not seen him coming in. They saw him 
go down into a lot in front of the house, and there 
disappear. Mr. Livingston and family were told to 
pray for the dead. The Yoice would say.: c I want 
prayers.’ One day when he was at work in the field 
with his sons, he was taken ill, and his sons going to 
him, he told them he had heard a scream from a soul 
that wanted prayers in purgatory, and that he was 
unable to get home. They helped him home, and 
said that their father was drawn double from fright. 
He himself often said that he could never forget that 
shriek; it was so dreadful. Mr. Livingston lived about 
four miles from Mr. McSherry in or near a little vil¬ 
lage called Smithfield, and went very often to Mr. 
McSherry’s to talk to them, as they were Catholics, 
and very few others in the neighborhood. Mr. 
Livingston would go there sometimes and say that 
he had been sent by the Yoice to tell them certain 
10 


no 


WIZARD CLIP. 


things. On one occasion, he came early in the 
morning and told Mrs. McSherry that her sister, Mrs. 
Spaulding, had died that night in Baltimore, about 
twelve o’clock, and that she must have Masses said 
for her. At that time the mail came only once a 
week, and the next mail brought a letter, saying that 
she had died at that very hour. There were many 
things communicated to Mr. McSherry’s family 
through Mr. Livingston’s family. They would bring 
messages from the Voice to the McSherrys. 

“ There was a Protestant lady very sick, who mar¬ 
ried a Catholic, an Italian, who kept a boarding 
house at the Sulphur Springs. The Voice sent him 
word to send for a priest, which he refused to do, 
saying she could get her own preacher, as he would 
have to send forty or fifty miles for a priest. Mrs. 
McSherry went to see this lady and found her well 
disposed and anxious to do what was right. She re¬ 
peated an act of contrition after Mrs. McSherry, and 
seemed very penitent. Mrs. McSherry left and went 
home, and during the night she dreamed that she 
saw a little puny child sitting by an immense rock, 
and with a little stick in its hand it struck the rock, 
and in an instant it all melted away. She said the 
dream made an impression on her, and in the morn¬ 
ing she thought of it again, but said nothing about 


WIZARD CLIP. 


Ill 


it, as slie supposed it was only a dream. But in a 
short time Mrs. L. came and told her that she had 
had a vision, and Mrs.Minghini—that was the lady’s 
name—was dead, and was saved by that act of con¬ 
trition ; and the little child which she saw in her 
vision, was a representation of it. Her sins were 
melted away just as the rock was from the touch of 
the child. Mr. L.’s eldest daughter Eve, became a 
very pious and devoted Catholic, but some of his 
family never became Catholics. Mrs. Livingston, 
step-mother to these children, said that she would 
not believe, and never did, as far as I have heard. Eve 
went to a Protestant meeting once after she became a 
Catholic. Whilst she was there, she shed tears be¬ 
cause she saw so many persons led astray, not know¬ 
ing anything of the Catholic Church. The Yoice 
said that she had committed a great sin, as the people 
thought she was affected by what she heard, they not 
knowing her thoughts. It disapproved very much 
of going to Protestant meetings. There was a mes¬ 
senger sent to £ Betirement 5 for a priest to go and 
see a sick woman. The priest’s horse was generally 
kept near the house, in a little field called the 
£ Spring pasture.’ Immediately the horse was sent 
for, but it could not be found anywhere. Mr. 
McSherry sent out for one of his own horses, which 


112 


WIZARD CLIP. 


detained the priest for some time; hut before he had 
gotten many miles off the priest’s horse (Old Bull, 
as they called him,) was seen on the bill in front of 
the house, and had not been out of the pasture. The 
Voice said the horse was there, but was made in¬ 
visible, because this woman put off her conversion 
until her last moments, and that she was dead when 
the priest arrived. These things I have heard from 
Mrs. McSherry, and I have heard many things since, 
but as she never told them to me, of course I do not 
know whether they are true or false. She had eighty 
Masses said for her sister, and had the happiness to 
hear she was in Heaven ; and also that her parents 
were there. She often told her children how pious 
her parents and sister were. Mr. L. said the Voice 
told him that many persons would not believe these 
things, and that even some priests would laugh and 
not believe, and that when he discovered this, not to 
tell them, but to cease talking and not try to convince 
them. Mr. L. left Smitlifield and moved to Pennsyl¬ 
vania. He left forty acres of land, with a small 
house on it, for the use of the Church ; and the Voice 
said that before the end of time, it would be a great 
place of prayer and fasting.” 


WIZARD CLIP. 


113 


III. 

Only a little more than one decade, and a whole 
century shall have passed since the spirit whisperings 
of mysterious occurrences at Middleway began to be 
bruited far and near. Barring some procacious 
sneers from the vain and the profane, a solemn denial, 
based on conviction and prompted by examination, 
has never been given. Throughout well nigh four 
score years and ten, and the running of three or four 
generations, these unchanged traditions have never 
ceased to exist, and, altho’ not ranging very far and 
wide, yet, like the authority of some weighty sage of 
the Middle Ages known and sworn by only in the 
schools, wherever they have been known they have 
been believed, not merely by the weak and the igno¬ 
rant, but by the educated and best enlightened 
classes. 

Will the conscientious student of history take no 
account of this traditional fact ? Then one of the 
strongest canons and criterions in history is taken 
from under all structure upon which Truth poises 
itself. Indeed, it cannot be alleged against us, that 
in believing the manifestations of Cliptown Income 
pertain et vulgariam traditionem rei non exjploratm 
secuti simus (Gell. xiii, 22 med). For, the proofs 
have been well sifted * and the events are marked 
10* 


114 


WIZARD CLIP. 


with every imprint of collateral evidence, and the 
consequences have been freighted with the best re¬ 
sults both material and spiritual. 

One more witness I shall here produce in regular 
and chronical series of time. 

Charles I. White, D.D., lately called to receive the 
reward of a long and faithful stewardship (1) , was a 
man of profound learning, not to mention his scru¬ 
pulous integrity. A hard student, he never swore 
on the words of others, but studied historical ques¬ 
tions with the aid of a clear intellect and a well 
balanced mind. From the knowledge I have had of 
him during an acquaintance of more than thirty 
years duration, I have no fear to assert that, had he 
not believed it, he would not have penned and trans¬ 
mitted to posterity the following account of events, 

1) Rev. Charles Ignatius White, D.D., was horn in Balti¬ 
more, February 1, 1807 ; died in Washington, pastor of St. 
Matthew’s Church, April 1, 1878, aet. 72 ; the oldest secular 
priest of the venerable Archdiocese of Baltimore, having been 
ordained in Notre Dame, Paris, June 5, 1830, by the martyred 
Archbishop Du Quelen. The surviving senior priest in the 
Archdiocese is Father Thomas Finigan, S.J., ordained by Arch¬ 
bishop Marechal, September 25, 1827. Dr. White had presided 
over the Mission of St. Matthew since November, 1857. For 
an account of the literary labors in which Dr. White has so well 
deserved of the Church in the United States, vide Baltimore 
Catholic Mirror , under dates of April G and 13, 1878. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


115 


in tlie occurrence whereof he acknowledged the 
traits of a supernatural economy. 

Although the work, which contains his account of 
Cliptown is of easy access, I would deem this, my 
collection of Documents, incomplete did I not close 
them with its insertion in these pages. 

To the admirable History of the Church by Darras, 
published by P. O’Shea (New York, 1865), an Ap¬ 
pendix has been added, prepared by the lamented 
Reverend Doctor, and giving a succinct account of 
the Origin and Progress of the Church in these 
United States. Miracles have not been wanting in 
her primitive days for a proof of the abiding presence 
of God in her midst. After having alluded to them, 
in the above mentioned Appendix, our historio¬ 
grapher thus (Vol. iv, p. 645) dwells on the 

" SUPERNATURAL EVENTS OF THE CLIP. 

“ While miracles of this kind attested the truth of 
Catholic doctrine, other supernatural events had 
many years previously been permitted by the Al¬ 
mighty within the present limits of the United 
States, which are worthy of record, inasmuch as 
they tend to confirm and illustrate the famous saying 
of St. Thomas Aquinas, that God would send an 


116 


WIZARD CLIP. 


angel, if necessary, to instruct in the faith those who 
sincerely seek after it by making a right use of the 
gifts of nature. The grounds on which this opinion 
of the angelical Doctor was based were not of a 
purely speculative nature. It rested equally upon 
the experience of the Christian Church ; and it is a 
source of gratification to know that this experimental 
evidence has been witnessed in this country, as in 
other parts of the world. About the commencement 
of the present century W, there lived in Jefferson 
county, Virginia, a man named Adam Livingston, a 
Pennsylvanian by birth, and a Lutheran in religion. 
A short time after his settlement in Virginia, he was 
much disturbed by invisible beings that haunted his 
house. His property was destroyed, his barn was 
burnt, his cattle all died, his clothes were cut in 
pieces. Chunks of fire were thrown or thrust into 
the beds, the crockery ware was scattered upon the 
floor, and (what was more astonishing,) articles of 
clothing were cut in the form of a half-moon, while 
boots, saddles, and other things were all demolished 
in the same way. Three men came from Winches¬ 
ter, in order to free the house from its annoyances ; 
but they no sooner entered it, than a huge stone was 

1) Or, rather toward the close of the last—as it is well proven 
from the letters of Prince Gallitzin, et ah 



WIZARD CLIP. 


117 


seen to issue from the fireplace, and whirl round 
upon the floor for more than fifteen minutes, when 
the gentlemen sneaked away. Livingston applied 
also to three conjurers, who gave him some herbs, a 
book (Common Prayer), and a riddle, by way of 
catching the devil; but the first night, the book and 
herbs were in a very ignominious piece of chamber- 
furniture, which was covered with the riddle. After 
some time, Mr. Livingston had a dream : he seemed 
to be climbing a high mountain with great difficulty, 
catching at roots and bushes to effect the ascent; 
and, after reaching the summit, he saw a man dressed 
in a peculiar costume (2) , and heard a voice saying to 
him ‘ That is the man who can relieve you.’ He 
immediately enquired about the neighborhood, to 
ascertain what kind of man this could be; and 
having been informed that Catholic priests wore the 
sort of dress which he had seen, and that one of 
them would officiate on the following Sunday at 
Sliepherdstown, he determined to be there on that 
day. As soon as the priest came to the altar, for the 
celebration of Mass, Mr. L. was so much overcome 
that he burst into tears, and said, c That is the very 
man whom I saw in my dream—that is the one to 
relieve me.’ The service ended, Livingston related 

2) Dr. White depends for items on other sources besides those 
to be found in this book. 



118 


WIZARD CLIP. 


his sad story to the clergyman, the Rev. Dennis 
Cahill, who at first looked upon it as a mere delu¬ 
sion ; but having been persuaded to visit the residence 
of the Livingston family, and after investigating the 
matter, he sprinkled the premises with Holy Water : 
before he left, a sum of money which had been taken 
away, was found at the door. He afterwards cele¬ 
brated Mass in the house, when the work of destruc¬ 
tion ceased. Mr. Livingston joined the Catholic 
Church, and after this event he and his family were 
frequently favored with the visits of an invisible 
person, whose voice instructed them in different 
points of Catholic doctrine and practice, recited the 
rosary with them and exhorted them to prayer and 
penitential woris. Fourteen persons were converted 
to the true faith in one season by these extraordinary 
revelations, while Catholics themselves were inspired 
with more religious sentiments. Mr. Livingston 
afterward removed to Loretto, in Pennsylvania, and 
some of his family arc said to have died in the odor 
of sanctity W.” 

1) The History of Nicola Aubry , edited by Rev. N. AI idler, 
C.SS.R., (Baltimore: Ivreuzer Bros., 1872), will be read with 
great interest, as containing many facts of a like bearing (pp. 
13, 14 and 15) with those in the history of Livingston. The 
reader is advised to read it, as it will help him to understand the 
working of such supernatural agencies. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


110 


The question must have often risen in the mind of 
the reader, “ What are we to think of all this ?— is it 
a fancy ? an illusion % a sensation % ” 

Surely, it cannot he. Are we not told in Holy 
Writ that the Eternal Wisdom’s delights are to he 
loith the children of man. That wisdom (Prov. viii, 
31) plays in the world. But his ways are not our 
ways. God choses means to manifest His divine will 
(Heb. i, 1) far above our comprehension. 

Hay, the Evil Spirit will even dare to counterfeit 
the designs of an Infinite Wisdom. But man shall 
not be deceived, unless he choses so to be deceived. 
The Evil One will not lead you by his devices to do 
what may prove inimical to the wicked interests of 
his kingdom of darkness. Hence man can always 
discover his aims by the prints of his cloven feet and 
the wagging of the bifurcated tail. 

But God’s dealings with man will always lead to 
things for His greater glory and for the welfare of His 
children. What evil has come from some of the 
manifestations of the Clip ? Suppose the clipping 
and the rocking in the cradle were the work of the 
Evil One, did not the Good Spirit come to the rescue 
at once, and with the gifts of faith, which are above 
all gifts, compensate temporal losses of so little 
consequence ? 


120 


WIZARD CLII\ 


Let us take facts as they are, and dare not to be 
too inquisitive.J The Narrative of the Clip is for 
edification, it draws our heart near to God, it teaches 
lessons of supernatural wisdom. With uncovered 
head, then, unsandalled feet, and humble brow, we 
approach the spot,, and reverently exclaim— 

The Finger of God is here ! 

Thus did Adam Livingston act, and so did all 
those behave, who, like him received and prized the 
teachings and promptings of Faith. 

Herein lieth the beauty of the Story. God em¬ 
ploys tools of His own choice and of His own making 
to work out results whereof the providential and 
benevolent results, in their mysterious development, 
are not explicable by our short sighted intelligence.— 
It may be called a Tradition : yet it is not: it is an 
historical contemporary fact. It has happened 
within the memory of our generation. There is no 
room for the least apprehension that those who 
relate its circumstances were or are fanatics, or inter¬ 
ested in putting up a case or creating a sensation. 
Nothing farther from the truth; Livingston was a 
reserved retiring man. S)id he wish to create a sen¬ 
sation, to attract notoriety, or to speculate, he might 
write a pamphlet and trumpet the affair so as to 
raise an excitement: but nothing of the kind. He 


WIZARD CLIP. 


121 


went down to his grave in obscurity and silence. 
He deposited some of the clipped articles at the Mis¬ 
sionary House of Conewago, Pa., and then, he went 
his way, rejoiced and satisfied, to his ordinary avo¬ 
cations W. 

What a grand opportunity for him to turn a 
penny by pamphleteering or lecturing ! Ho. That 
Faith which the Holy Spirit through the Priest of 
God’s Church had brought him, taught him other 
ways from the ways of the world. It is good to 
hide the secret of the king , is his motto, whilst I was 
told that It is honorable to reveal and confess the 
works of God (Tobias xl, vii). 

Alas! would I had done my task with as much 
diligence, quickness, and discretion, as Livingston 
used firmness and perseverance ! 

But the task is done, the work is over. Such as it 
is, farewell, dear Header. 

Yet, stay : one word more. 

Take the mass of information I have laid before 
you, and—judge on the face of its evidence. 

1) Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin, and a host of men and women, 
believed in the Clip. What motive could they have to endorse 
it unless they believed it ? 

11 







APPENDIX A. 

FROM ITS GREAT IMPORTANCE, I CANNOT LOOK UPON 
IT BUT AS A TOKEN OF APPROVING PROVIDENCE, 
THAT THE CONTENTS OF THIS APPENDIX SHOULD 
HAVE COME TO HAND AFTER I HAD COMPLETED 
LABORS. 

HE following papers were entrusted to my 
care by John Gilmary Shea, LL.D., whilst 
I was enjoying a really home hospitality 
at his house in Elizabeth, N. J., and after 
the foregoing pages had been all arranged for the 
press. 

Mr. Shea, with that disinterestedness which I have 
experienced during a close friendship of a quarter 
of a century, as a distinguished trait in his character, 
not only warmly encouraged the publication of the 
documents in the form established, but consented to 
whatever use I might think fit to make of the papers 
in his possession. 

The letter from the pen of the venerable Kev. 
John McCaffrey, D.D., for so many years the Presi- 


MY 



v/ 







WIZARD CLIP. 


124 

dent of St. Mary’s, Emmittsburg, Md., I consider as 
one of tlie greatest value. The simple perusal of it will 
convince the reader of the truth of my assertion. 
It may be considered as non-committal: but the 
opinions of the men therein quoted, evidently en¬ 
dorsed by the writer, cannot fail to impress the 
reader with the truth of what we have stated in cor - 
joore . To whom the letter was addressed it is unneces¬ 
sary that we should know. Enough for our purpose 
to know that it is from Doctor McCaffrey. I tran¬ 
scribe it in its entirety, and from the original auto¬ 
graph. 


Mount St. Mary’s College, 

December 11, 1855. 

Dear Sir , 

A month has elapsed since I received 
your letter of enquiry respecting the history of 
“ Wizard Clip.” My numerous and pressing duties, 
together with the hope of seeing a friend who could 
give me some more definite information than I pos¬ 
sess, have prevented an earlier reply. 

All my knowledge about the ghost of Cliptown, 
or “ AVizard Clip,” as I have heard it always named, 
is at second hand, picked up in casual conversations 



WIZARD CLIP. 


125 


at long intervals, and therefore neither perfectly 
accurate, nor precise enough to be of use to the his¬ 
torian W. 

The first man from whom I learned any thing 
clear and certain < 1 2) , was the Rev. John B. Gildea ^ 3) 4 , 
who some twenty odd years ago was pastor of Mar- 
tinsburg, Va., and built the church at Harper’s 
Ferry, and afterwards founded the church and Or¬ 
phan Asylum of St. Vincent, Baltimore, where he 
died. He was intimate as pastor with the McSherry 
family and all their connexions, and was a firm 
believer in the whole story . 

Rev. George Flaut (4) , now pastor of Piscataway 
in this State, was also for some years a Missionary in 
the same part of Virginia, knew the same persons, 
and gave the same testimony, which he will confirm 
if called upon. These two clergymen were, like 
myself, brought up in Emmitsburg, educated entirely 
at Mt. St. Mary’s College, and my intimate friends 

1) Yes 5 if we had no parallel documents. But the importance 
of this letter lies chiefly in the quoted opinions. 

2) The italics are mine. The reader’s attention is called to 
the words italicised. 

3) Died Feb. 18, 1845, aet. 41, universally esteemed. 

4) Died June 8 , 1859, aet. 64, assistant to Rev. Leonard Ober*- 
meyer of St. Vincent’s, Balt. 

11 * 



126 


WIZARD CLIP. 


through life. More truthful and better men I have 
never known and never expect to know. 

Fr. Thomas Mulledy W, now Pres’t of Worcester 
College, Mass., has related to me what he knows of 
the affair. He is a native of W. Virginia, and has 
repeatedly visited the scene of those wonderful events . 

In the book-store of John Murphy, Balt., is a 
young Mr. Piet 1 (2) , a clerk, I think in the business, 
whose mother was a daughter of the Mrs. Mc- 
Sherry of the legend (3) 4 , and a sister of the 
late Fr. McSherry ( 4) . There is also in Baltimore a 
Dr. Pi chard McSherry < 5) of the same family, a good 
Catholic, and a respectable physician. 

The father of the young Mr. Piet, to whom I 
have referred, has in conversation with me corrob¬ 
orated the substance of the legend, telling me that 
his wife talked so much about it as to make it a most 
tiresome theme. 

Dr. Huntingdon, in a late number of the Leader 


1) V. Supra , Notes to Br. Moberly’s narrative. 

2 ) Piet. Y. His Letter supra p. 78. 

8 ) Legend is not the word, except inasmuch as there arc so 
many marvelous occurrences in the history of the “ Clip." 

4) Very Rev. Wm, McSherry, Provincial of the Company 
of Jesus in Maryland, and President of Georgetown College. 
Died December 17, 1839. 

8 ) The highly esteemed Doctor’s Letter at p. 29. 



WIZARD CLIP. 


127 


has repeated the substance of what I told him W. I 
have heard of these things since I was a child, but 
never knew the dates or sought precise information. 
I never saw Prince Gallitzin’s letters, though I had 
heard of them before their publication in the Leader. 

All the accounts I have heard concurred in 
giving as the first phenomenon the destruction of 
chickens, &c., by the cutting off of their heads by 
some invisible process : then clipping of all wearing 
apparel into shreds, on the backs of the wearers, in 
their pockets, in drawers and trunks even under lock 
and key, was spoken of as the regular and most fre¬ 
quent preternatural fact. 

Mr. Livingston, they told me, was at last shown 
in a dream or vision the man who could relieve him, 
strangely attired. He afterwards came accidentally 
to the house in which Father Cahill was saying Mass, 
and instantly recognized in the vested priest at the 
altar the person of his dream. He had never seen a 
priest vested before. Fr. Cahill, on his second visit, 
exorcised the place—his first was brief, on account of 
a pressing distant sick-call 1 (2) . 

1) The fact of the Doctor communicating the f^cts to a join'* 
nalist has great weight in the forming of an opinion. 

2) It is remarkable, and Well worth being pondered on, how 
accurately these details, at random heard in casual conversation, 
agree with the carefully given accounts. 



128 


WIZARD CLIP. 


The Livingston family were summoned by a 
“ Voice ” to take seats for catechism, and then 
taught, question and answer, the little Catechism, 
from “ Who made you,” to the end, without book or 
any visible agency. 

They were all admitted into the Church, except 
one member, an old aunt, who was stubborn to the 
last. The £ ‘ Voice” warned her of her impending 
death, and designated the room in which she was to 
die. She avoided ever stopping in that room ; when 
sick, she went to a neighboring house; recovered 
enough to come back, entered the room for an in¬ 
stant, and dropped dead there. 

Old Mrs. McSherry was often instructed by the 
“ Voice” to instruct and aid the Livingston’s, and 
received communications about her own family. 
Some she was now at liberty to reveal. 

Mr. Gallitzin took from “ Wizard Clip” to Cone- 
wago a trunk full of articles clipped by the ghost, a 
book among the rest, described correctly by Mr. 
Huntingdon, and a new shawl or some other cloth 
with the print of a hand burned through it by the 
spirit. Father Mulledy, when a Scholastic at Cone- 
wago, saw and handled those articles. 

Mr. Flaut told me, the opinion which he formed 
or took from others was that a soul in purgatory was 
the agent and “ Voice” in question. 


WIZARD CLIP. 


129 


I do not know where or how I heard, that a 
poor Irish traveller was taken in and nursed kindly 
by the Livingstons until he died, they refusing, how¬ 
ever, to send for a priest; some time after which the 
clippings began. 

The noise of clipping , as if of scissors, was heard 
during the cutting. 

Fr. Thomas Mulledy, within the last five or six 
years, stopped at the little place called “ Wizard’s 
Clip,” to rest himself and horse. He was so dressed (1) 
as to give no clue to his religious creed or character. 
He asked the landlord, a Protestant, why the place 
was so named, heard the true outlines of the legend, 
inquired whether his informant believed it all, and 
was assured that not only he, but all the older 
inhabitants knew it To be true. They are all or 
nearly all Protestants. 

Thus, my dear Sir, I have given you, most hastily 
and imperfectly, the little that I can say about this 
marvellous affair. I have indicated, however, the 
living persons from whom you may learn more. I 
should be glad to afford you more information, if I 
had it. Your efforts to preserve the traditions and 

I) Most probably in one of those occasions \yhen, to escape 
the mitre, he exiled himself, and under the garb of a common 
laborer lay hidden in the neighborhood of his father’s house. 



130 


WIZARD CLIP. 


collect llie scattered fragments' on Church history 
certainly deserve encouragement and entitle you to 
the gratitude of all good Catholics. 

I thank you . . . 

Yery Respectfully and Truly 

Your Most Obed’t Serv’t 

John McCaffrey. 


The reader cannot help being impressed with the 
strength of proofs suggested in the above communi¬ 
cation. But here I may be allowed a remark. The 
venerable President advises a reference to the then 
living witnesses. Alas! the advice was neglected. 
But I shall not condemn the gentleman to whom the 
letter is addressed. He is overwhelmed with work 
in service of the Church, of history and of litera¬ 
ture. I blame myself. The plea of many other 
duties does not excuse me from the lack of diligence 
in gathering more documents bearing on the “ Wiz¬ 
ard Clip.” Within the last six or eight years many 
have passed away who might have supplied addi¬ 
tional documents. But here is the place to repeat 
what I have said in many other occasions. In our 
community not the least encouragement is given to 
those who have the talent and the will to work in 
Catholic historical pursuits. Many a time I have 



WIZARD CLIP. 


131 


heard the lamented and great Archbishop Bayley 
playfully animadvert on the discourteous apathy of 
certain parties when he was engaged in writing the 
life of the sainted Brute. And I know of one 
writer who in giving to the public the results of his 
labors for twenty-five years in collecting and treasu¬ 
ring the oldest records of American Catholic Litera¬ 
ture, was subjected to the loss of twelve hundred 
and more dollars, despite the most flattering encour¬ 
agement on paper, and the most liberal offers of 
support, the which all came to naught when there 
was every reason to expect a generous welcome. 
Just think of this one fact. A Rev. gentleman sub¬ 
scribes to the work, receives the volume, cuts its 
leaves, reads it, and then returns it to the publisher, 
at the latter’s expense, with a most ungenerous and 
uncourteous remark. ~No wonder that the said 
writer should have expressed his firm determination 
never more to risk the loss of money in any such 
venture. We know of interesting collections he has 
made, bearing on American Catholic history, both 
ecclesiastical and literary, but his cartels shall remain 
in his locker until more propitious days will dawn 
over the U. S. literary horizon. Perhaps after his 
death Iris manuscripts will be given to the corner 
grocer to wrapdiis goods in. Sic transit , etc.— 


132 


WIZARD CLIP. 


But here another remark thrusts itself on my pen. 
The kind Doctor praises his correspondent for his 
zeal in preserving historical records. Now the ven. 
Doctor has reckoned amongst his best friends those 
lights of the Catholic Church which have shone in 
her rising horizon. For more than half a century 
he has been connected with one of our oldest institu¬ 
tions. He has witnessed the vicissitudes of the most 
stirring times in the life of both State and Church. 
Has he kept a faithful record of the events con¬ 
nected with the Church ? Absit odium in verbo. 
But may I not, interested as I feel in this matter, 
entreat him to transmit to posterity the treasures of 
his experience ? By letters and by word of mouth 
I used all my influence to induce that venerable 
priest, Father John McElroy, to dictate an account 
of the events which he had witnessed since his ordi¬ 
nation, A.D., 1817 (a lapse of sixty years !) But in- 
cassum ! true, he dictated a paper : but so meagre 
and so scanty and so commonplace, that not one 
tittle is therein recorded that is not fresh in the 
memory of every Catholic. During the long even¬ 
ings of the winter of 1856-57, 1 enjoyed the pro¬ 
verbially entertaining conversation of Yery Bev. Dr. 
Moriarty. What sluices and torrents of information 
flew from his lips ! He repeatedly promised that he 


WIZARD CLIP. 


133 


would leave behind him a complete detailed history 
of the horrors of ’44, whereof the true key he alone 
held. Besides these particular times, he knew, more 
perhaps than any other man, the history of men and 
events during his own long American career. What 
a wealth of historical lore his Diary must contain ! 
Will any of his brethren take it up, and arrange it 
for the press? Let us hope so. Yea, I fear it will 
remain a hope. 

When will the day dawn upon us in which we 
shall see an American Catholic Historical Society 
established ? How is the time, when such men live 
still who will give it a proper direction and inspire 
with a proper spirit. But wait a few years and those 
great Catholic names will only adorn the title pages 
of their works and the cold stone over their graves. 

May these words, uncouth perhaps, and of little 
authority, prove a seed of hope that will grow into a 
noble tree of reality ! 

JRevertamur ad nostra. 

Together with the above letter, my esteemed 
friend gave me the following papers which he had 
received from an artist, Mr. J. IL Taylor. 

The first relates what the artist’s mother, Mrs. 
Mary Ann Taylor, knew of the history of the “ Wizard 
Clip.” 

“ My mother was born in 1782 in Frederick Co., 
12 


134 


WIZARD CLIP. 


Md.—The incidents occurred when she was a little 
girl, it is presumed at least 80 years ago. Since that 
event, when the writer was in her 10th year, her 
parents moved to Ohio.—During the long winter 
evenings our neighbors would call in. Their conver¬ 
sation often turned on strange and mysterious events. 
My mother once said to a friend, she would relate a 
great ghost story which she knew to be a fact, but 
as the spirit was laid at rest by a Catholic priest, and 
the prejudice against the Catholics was so great, it 
would not be credited. On being urged by her 
friend, who was a Catholic, to relate it, and whilst 
she did relate it, she found to her surprise the lady’s 
father had witnessed at the same house the same or 
similar exhibitions. Her father went with a number 
of gentlemen from Baltimore to the haunted house 
in Virginia (the particular locality I don’t know) 
where it was said the strangest scenes were enacted 
in broad day-light, such as bed clothes being cut into 
shreds, and falling to the floor: a flock of geese 
came in alive and disappeared headless: a block of 
wood was used in those days to pound clothes on (in 
washing): when soaped and folded and laid on the 
block preparatory to being pounded, they were cut 
into pieces by an invisible power. While my 
grandfather [Thomas Poole, Esq.] and his daughter 


WIZARD CLIP. 


135 


were present, other scenes were witnessed, but I do 
not remember them as related by my mother, but 
these three were witnessed by my grandfather, his 
oldest daughter, and a black man servant, who 
accompanied them on their journey. They had to 
travel 75 miles on horseback, the route being too in¬ 
tricate for a carriage. My grandfather stated the 
residents of the house could get no rest, night or 
day—ministers of all denominations were called in 
to pray for the repose of the soul of the former 
owner of the premises—but to no avail. At last a 
Catholic priest was called in—the spirit confessed to 
have murdered his predecessor, and that the spirit 
could not tind rest until he had made restitution and 
had given to the murdered man Christian burial. 
The spirit also made known the spot where the body 
lay, which was disinterred and witnessed by a great 
number of the residents and strangers. The property 
was restored to the rightful owner and the spirit was 
at rest. So I remember it—how much my grand¬ 
father believed in what he heard, and saw will never 
be known—it affected him deeply at the time, my 
mother said, as it did all who witnessed it! 

“In looking over my son’s sketches during the late 
war, what was my surprise to see the spot my grand¬ 
father and his great grandfather, had, with his daugh- 


130 


WIZARD CLII\ 


ter, travelled so many miles to visit, and witness these 
strange sights that have puzzled and mystified those 
of the past, and which 80 years have failed to oblit¬ 
erate.” [This in the handwriting of Mrs. T.] 

Mrs. T. alludes to the sketches made by her son. 
I have them before me, and in my possession: but 
I cannot give a copy of them in this first edition of 
my unpretentious record. Yet I cannot forbear 
printing the remarks of the artist and sketcher 
(J. R. T.) as they are pencilled on the back of 
each:— 

A. “ £ The Livingston/ or ‘ Priest’s Place,’ deeded 
to Fr. Cahill by Mr. Livingston as a penance.[?] It 
is consecrated ground, and the Catholics bring their 
dead here for burial. The large oaks to the right 
cover the remains of the dead. Rude stones mark 
the resting places of those who sleep beneath. There 
is also another burial p]ace in the woods, but I 
believe it is not in the 35 acres. The people of 
Smithfield are so very superstitious that many of 
them will not pass the right of the field. 

“ The two pear trees mark the spot where stood a 
house. Only the cellar is visible. I believe the Rev. 
Dr. resided there. There is a spring in the lower 
part of the lot beyond the pear trees, called the 
Priest’s Spring. The rent of this lot does or did go 


WIZARD CLIP. 


137 


towards the support of the Catholic priest who offi¬ 
ciated in Smithfield. 

“ Soldiers encamped here some time since. ’Tis a 
a lonely looking spot. J. E. T.” 

I >. “ Smithfield, Sunday, 18th-Three weeks 

ago to-day, Averill’s forces were obliged, after an ob¬ 
stinate fight, to vacate this town. The rebels did not 
stay long, however, and our forces now occupy it. 
It also has many other historic associations. It has 
three designations; Smithfield — Middleway—and 
Wizard’s Clip. 

“ Many buildings have been destroyed during the 
present war. Many of the houses were perforated by 
shells during the late fight, which was by the way a 
very obstinate one. J.” 

Finis Coro7iat Ojms. 


CONCLUSION. 

I cannot send my copy to the publishers with¬ 
out again expressing the hope that this Monograph 
(a big word for a small work) will elicit more 
information about events so important to the early 
history of our dear American Church. Let all who 
feel an interest in the matter, and what Catholic 
should not? give the booklet a wide circulation.— 
Who knows but the long lost Manuscript of Prince 
Gallitzin may yet be unearthed. Fiat, Fiat! 




138 


WIZARD CLIP. 


APPENDIX B. 

BY JOHN G. SHEA. 

The view of Smithfield engraved for this work, 
and that of the ruins of Livingston’s house at Wizard 
Clip, were drawn for me during the late war by 
an artist who was then with the army in that 
part of the country. Learning of his presence near 
Wizard Clip, I wrote asking him to visit and sketch 
the spot, in case he could find any one to guide 
him to it. I had some years before begun to collect 
all I could find bearing on the affair, and wished to 
obtain a picture of the spot. With great kindness 
Mr. Taylor proceeded to the Livingston place, find* 
ing no difficulty in identifying a spot which the 
folk-lore of the neighborhood has invested with no 
little fame. 

On the return of the artist to New York I found 
that he was no stranger to the story, and belonged 
to an old Maryland family in which the memory of 
the events had been preserved. It was a singular 
coincidence that the artist should be the great grand¬ 
son of one who had made a long journey 85 years 
ago to witness the strange events which gave Liv* 


LIVINGSTON S PLACE ; OR, WIZARD CLIP 
From a sketch by James R. Taylor. 










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































WIZARD CLIP. 


139 


ingston’s farm the name of Wizard Clip. He says: 
“ This little town, which General Averill after an 
obstinate fight had to vacate in the last of Septem¬ 
ber, 1864, but which was soon recovered, has been 
sketched by me. It is a small village, many of the 
houses showing signs of the recent battle, being per¬ 
forated by shot and shell. It is near Charlestown, 
on the turnpike, and is also termed Middleway. 
Throughout the country around it has for over half a 
century borne the name of Wizard Clip from the 
strange events which occurred at the house of a Mr. 
Livingston, (the house is now in ruins), and which 
for a long time attracted general attention. Articles 
of dress, and boots even, were mysteriously cut into 
strings, generally by a spiral clip going round and 
round the doomed article. This clipping or cutting 
gave the place the name of Wizard Clip, and to this 
day the spot is regarded with terror by the people. 
The lot is now or w T as used by the Catholics as a 
burial ground, who brought their deceased relatives 
from all parts of the country to bury them in the 
ground consecrated by a miracle.” 

At my request Mr. Taylor took down his mother's 
recollections of the events as she heard them in her 
childhood. 


140 


WIZARD CLIP. 


APPENDIX C. 

THE REY. JOSEPH M. FINOTTI, S. J. 

The name of the subject of this sketch, Father 
Finotti, ought to be a household word among Catho¬ 
lics. The great work of his life is the “ Bibliograjph- 
ica Catholica Americana .” It was a list of Ameri¬ 
can Catholic books published in this country from 
the earliest time to the present. Only one volume 
appeared from the press of the Catholic Publication 
Society, being an exhaustive list of books down to 
1825. This valuable work had a small sale. He 
completed the second volume, but the encouragement 
he received did not induce him to hasten its publica¬ 
tion. The MS. needs only slight revision to be 
ready for the press. An Italian by birth, he was 
more American than the Americans themselves. 

When quite young, Father Finotti came from 
Rome, accompanying some Fathers of the Society 
of Jesus. Signor Finotti, the father of the young 
exile, was a man of education and high principle, 
and the young Joseph had received the foundation 
of an excellent education. At Georgetown College* 
the Jesuits completed the work begun in Rome* and 


WIZARD CLir. 


141 


lie was ordained priest. He was appointed pastor of 
Brookline, Mass., and while there, acted as literary 
editor of the Boston Pilot . He wrote a “ Life of 
Peter Claver,” dedicated to Governor Andrews, of 
Massachusetts. He afterwards became pastor at 
Arlington, in the same State. On his removal to 
Cincinnati, to assume a professorship in the Seminary 
there, he contributed many interesting articles to the 
Cincinnati Telegraph. 

On the 5th of last November, 1878, he met with 
an accident while on a visit to Denver—a fall which 
caused a slight concussion of the brain, besides 
some internal injuries, from which, at the time, no 
serious consequences were apprehended. He did 
not, however, give up his pastoral duties, though 
often he had literally to rise from his sick bed to 
perform them. 

On January 4, nature gave way through sheer 
exhaustion, and his whole physical system seemed 
suddenly to break down. Four epileptic attacks 
came on within twelve hours, and were followed by 
long spells of unconsciousness. During one of his 
lucid intervals he received the last Sacraments from 
the hands of Father Matz, of Georgetown, Colorado, 
and answered himself to the prayers of the ritual 
with sentiments of the liveliest faith and devotion. 


142 


WIZARD CLIP. 


From this time he rested more quietly until the fol¬ 
lowing Tuesday, but his gradually increasing weak¬ 
ness precluded all hope of recovery. In this interval 
he received again the Holy Communion, and spent 
his time in preparing for his final hour, which he 
awaited with extraordinary calmness. On Wednes¬ 
day lie was frequently unconscious, and on Thursday 
there was no change. During the succeeding night 
he rallied a little, and for the first time since his 
attack began again to take nourishment. Hopes of 
his recovery were entertained, and spread abroad 
instantly, to the great joy of all, but, alas! they were 
short-lived, for on Friday morning, January 10, he 
was again unconscious, and remained so until four 
o’clock in the afternoon, when he passed away with' 
out a struggle. 

His remains were laid out in his church until 
Sunday, when, at his own request, they were trans¬ 
ferred to Denver, and on Monday the funeral took 
place. It was his dying request that his funeral 
should be of the simplest kind. Ho funeral sermon 
was to be preached over him, not even a High Mass? 
but his humility did not prevent his people from 
manifesting their love for him. They carried his 
body through the streets of his own town for the 
distance of a mile and a half, and the entire congre- 


WIZAKD CLIP. 


143 


gation followed in procession. A delegation even 
accompanied it to Denver—forty miles—and did not 
leave it until the grave closed over it and shut out 
from their sight forever the mortal remains of him 
who had been their friend and father. 

Writing to his publishers from Central City, Col., 
on the 20tli of November last, he said: “ The copy 
has been delayed in consequence of a severe fall I 
had going to say Mass at the Sisters’ in Denver, at 
4£ A.M. It has jarred me inwardly, and I begin to 
fear some evil consequences, considering my age, and 
the fall was a £ dead ’ one, my whole weight carrying 
me down flat heavily on my head and chest across a 
marble slab. It was two weeks yesterday, and not 
only am I not getting over it, but I feel its effects 
every day more. Perhaps it is the last summons. 
Deo Gratias ” 



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